Allie Harkness
by Ali Harkness
Summary: Allie Hale, a twelve year old orphan living on the streets of Cardiff. Little does she know, her whole life is about to change when she learns she's the daughter of Jack Harkness.
1. Everything Changes

The streets of Cardiff were silent, expect for the sound of the pouring rain. I was leaning up against a building, hiding my face behind the hood of my dark sweatshirt and the black curls dipping in front of my eyes. I was watching the only people that would possibly be out on a night like this, the police. They had blocked off the whole road with blinking lights and yellow tape. People with bright yellow shirts and big black hats were walking around and a small crowd with umbrella's was gathered up against the tape. These people were so stupid. It was just another stupid murder in another stupid city. It was really pouring now, but I was pretty safe under the awning of this restaurant.

I noticed the police retreating from under the tape and then a huge black van pulled in. It had silver letter on the side, TORCHWOOD. Well, this was different. Four people dressed in dark clothes without hoods to shield them from the ran, jumped out. There was two men and two woman, one of the woman was carrying a briefcase. They looked more like superheros's then police. I noticed one of them men was wearing a trench coat that looked like it had stepped out of world war two. Had these people walked out of the theater? The man noticed me looking at him, I put my head down quickly. I didn't want to be noticed, especially not by police that would take me back to Bates.

Bates was my newest daddy. As long as I could remember I'd been shuffled in and out of foster homes, only to be given back because I was 'a danger to the family's living conditions' or 'I was a disrespectful little shit who didn't obey the rules of the house.' Last month, they'd shipped me off here, to a whole nother continent where the accents were like they were speaking a different language. 'A whole new life,' Mrs. Myers, the woman who owned the orphanage in Maine that they always sent me back to had said. And it wasn't to bad here. Sure, my American accent stood out like a sore thumb and I still couldn't figure out what a wanker was, but besides that, I liked this city. The only bad part was Bates. Tonight, I'd spilled a glass of water on the carpet and he'd hit me so hard that I fell onto the ground. Then I'd run out and I wasn't going back this time.

I'd run away from Bates many times in the past month, but these stupid police always brought me back. Bates would act all nice when they shoved me in the door, like he'd been totally worried about me. Then he'd lock me in my room and wouldn't give me anything to eat for forty eight hours. I knew hanging around police probably wasn't the best idea for me right now, but it was the only dry spot I could find and it was close to 2am, I was smart enough not to walk down any alleys. People had always told me I was smart for twelve, smarter then I should be and that I should keep my mouth shut.

When I looked up, trench coat was still looking at me. This time, I didn't look away. I stared right back at him until he broke the gaze. He was hansom. What were they doing over there, just the four of them around a dead body in the pouring rain? And why were all the police standing on the outskirts with the crowd of civilians? It was much to tempting to resist. I left my dry corner, darting across the empty street and into the parking garage. If I went up, I could look down at the murder scene and see what they were doing. Unlucky for me, someone was already there.

It was a woman in a police uniform, looking over the rail. She seemed to be the only one of the police who had any sense around here. Obviously, I couldn't stick around. But as I turned, so did she.

"What are you doing up here?" she demanded. I thought about running, I should diffidently be running, but if I ran, where would I go? Back out onto the street to wait and be brought back to my own personal hell? I was getting a look at a dead body first.

"I wanted to see the body," I said simply. This seemed to surprise her, some kid alone in a parking garage at night wanting to see a dead body. Maybe it was weird to her, but it wasn't to me. I mean, why not? It was a dead body and I'd never seen one. Plus, that man was the most interesting thing I'd seen all night. I walked past her, over to the rail.

"Get back here!" she said sharply.

"Shh," I hushed. "The'll hear you." They were forming an odd little circle around the dead man. The woman with the briefcase was pulling something out of it. At first I thought it was a hand, but it was silver. Some kind of weird glove? The cop lady seemed to have lost attention in me, she was leaning over the rail beside me, watching them.

"How's it going?" Trench coat asked. He was American! This guy kept getting better. The woman was putting the glove on, sitting on the pavement above the dead man's head.

"Nothing yet, I've gotta feel it." Feel what? The fact that you're sitting on cold, wet, pavement? "I can't just flip a switch, it's more like accuses. It grants me accuses." She gasped, then put the gloved hand under the dead man's head. The pouring rain suddenly stopped, just stopped. Rain wasn't suppose to do that. Then the dead man's eyes flew open.

"Wholly shit," I muttered.

"What the hell is going on?" the dead, or should be dead, man said."

"Listen to me," said the other woman, an Asian girl. "We've only got two minutes, so it's important that you listen. You're dead."

"How am I dead?"

"You were stabbed," the other man said.

"I'm not dead, I can see you!"

"We brought you back, but we haven't got long." Asian girl said. "Who did this to you?"

"But why am I dead? I don't want to be dead!"

"Who killed you, did you see them?"

"I don't know, they were standing behind me."

"So you didn't see anything?" They all looked up at trench coat. He seemed to be the boss of these crazy people. He knelt beside the man.

"What's your name?

"John."

"Okay John. Not long now."

"Who are you?"  
"Captain Jack Harkness." Captain? Who went around calling themselves a captain? "Tell me, what was it like when you died? What did you see?"

"Nothing. I saw nothing. Oh my god, there's nothing!" Then the man went limp. The rain started pouring again and I couldn't hear the voices over the sound.

"Maybe there's no right way of doing it!" The captain shouted over the rain, as if he wanted me and the cop lady to hear him... "What do you two think?!" Run, fucking run. I booked it out of the garage, cop lady had the sense to follow. Once I had run far enough a way for my liking, I stopped, gasping for air.

"Did you see that?!" I shouted. "That guy was dead, right? You police people came because that guy'd been murdered and then that woman just-"  
"I saw it," she said in a heavy welsh accent. She was silent for a moment, leaning up against the side of a building. "Where are your parents then? It's almost 3 in the morning."

"Don't have any," I said offhand.

"Then where do you live?"

"Why do you want to know all these personal questions about me now, some man just got resurrected!"

"Because I'm a cop and there's a little girl alone in the rain," she responded calmly. "I can drive you home, if you'd like?"

"No!" I snapped quickly. "I mean, I'll just walk. Thanks for the offer." I stopped as I started to walk away. Only the two of us had seen this..thing. I didn't want to loose this lady, or at least I didn't want to leave without knowing her name.

"I'm Ali, Ali Hale," I said.

"Gwen Cooper."

"Nice meeting you Gwen Cooper." I smiled and walked away.

I spent the night in a subway station, not sleeping at all, just watching the rain's go back and forth from my dirty bench. After a few hours, I went up to meet to walk around, the sun would be up now. As soon as I stepped out from the subway steps, I saw a blue trench coat running past me. No way. I chased after him, not really considering what would happen if I actually caught up. He ran into the police building. I paused outside the door. No way was I going in there, not even to find the Captain guy who could bring people back to life. But then I saw a familiar figure. It was the cop woman from last night, Gwen Cooper.

"Gwen!" I shouted. She was looking at the staircase where he'd disappeared, she'd saw him to. I ran in the doors, towards her.

"You again," she said. "Stay right here." She headed up the steps after him.

"No way, I found him first!" I pushed past her. I stopped at a door covered in white plastic.

"Excuse me," Gwen said, leaning over the stairs to talk to a janitor. "It's all celled off up there, who did that?"

"I thought it was you lot?"

"But what's it for, what happened?" I asked.

"I don't know, nine o'clock this morning it was all celled off. Chemicals or something." He walked away. I pushed past the plastic.

"Ali!" Gwen shouted after me. "This is a private area, you can't be up here." I gave her a look. "It's not safe," she corrected.

"Not safe for you either," I pointed out. "Looks like we're both not safe, we can both be unsafe together." I spotted a figure at the other end of the hall.

"Sorry, we're just looking for someone," Gwen called to him, putting her hands on my shoulders as she pushed past me. As we got closer, I could see that he was wearing some type of halloween monster mask. Was this some sort of sick prank? "Anyway, I don't know if you saw a man come through here?" Gwen asked. "A tall man in of those big, sort of military coats?" The masked man didn't move. He just stared us. This was really creepy, but Gwen kept going closer "Are you alright? That's good, that's a good mask sort of thing. Look, I'm sorry if we're interrupting something, but I think we can stop this now." This thing had animal eyes. And the eyes were't part of the mask, they were real eyes. Was it really a mask? I grabbed onto the back of Gwen's shirt. People were coming back from the dead, could there not be monsters too? "We're looking for a man in a big gray coat," she said. The thing growled at us. Then I heard the plastic moving and the janitor came through.

"Ah, there you are. I did ask, and my boss said it was nothing about the police and then I asked about chemicals and he said I was stupid, no chemicals. Who've you got with you there, then? So much for sealing it off. There's a face, nice one. You two alright? Bloody hell, that is brilliant!" The man walked towards the thing.

"I think you should step back," I said quietly.

"Look, it's just like real teeth!" The monster lunged, bitting the janitor's neck. Blood spattered all over the floor and he started screaming, echoing my own. Trench coat came out of nowhere, grabbed me around my waist and throwing me over his shoulder. He grabbed Gwen's arm, carrying me and dragging her back towards the plastic.

"Go, go, go, go, go!" I heard other voices as my feet hit the ground again and I saw the the people from last night before the plastic shut in front of me. Gwen grabbed my hand, pulling me behind her down the stairs. She jumped into her police car.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Get in!" The black van was already pulling away. We followed it onto the M5. Gwen put her headset on.

"The only Captain Jack Harkness is American," I heard a woman say through it.

"That's it, he's American!"

"American volunteer. Except he disappeared, went off the records, presumed dead."

"When was that?"

"1941 at the hight of the blitz. Never seen again until now. What's going on, Gwen, you seeing ghosts?" I glanced at her. We were pulling up the melamine center. A very pissed off looking man came up to us.

"Oi, you can't leave that there."

"Police."

"I can see that love, and you're still not leaving it there. I'm talking to you, move your bloody car!"

"Piss off," I told him, following her to where the team had disappeared. It started pouring, so we took refugee in the car.

"Will your parents, or whoever looks after you, will they be looking for you?" Gwen asked. I smiled.

"No. He doesn't care. To be honest, I'm not living anywhere right now. I slept in a subway station last night." She smiled, which confused me because I thought she would freak out.

"I know. I looked into you last night, Ali Hale. Rule one, never tell a police officer your name. Man named Mr. Bates reported you missing last night, and the week before that, and the week before that. You're a foster kid from America, twelve years old, no parents."

"Well, you're noisy," I said, glancing out my window. I saw a man walking towards us. He opened up my door.

"I walked," he said, looking at Gwen with dagger eyes. "I bloody walked. Who the hell are you then?"

"Ali," I said, carful not say my last name. "Hello." Gwen lead him out of the car, signaling for me to stay. The rain was starting to clear up. The stupid rain patterns here were making me crazy. Was it going to rain or not? I watched Gwen pleading with the man outside the car. She seemed to be pleading with him. I hooped in the back seat as they came back. The man, who's name was Andy, dropped us off at Gwen's flat.

"We're going back, aren't we?" I asked as she walked around to garage where her car was.

"Well, I am."

"I'm going too!" I argued.

"Stay with my boyfriend and me. No more subway stations."

"I'm not going to impose on your life."

"I'll make you a deal then," she said, putting her hands on her hips. "You agree to stay with me, and I'll let you come." Man, she was good. I shrugged and she smiled. "I'll be right back. I'll tell Rhys that I have to look after you for some police thing, alright? I can even tell him you're a foster kid, won't be to much of a lie. You wait in the car."

"Okay." I couldn't help but smile. No one had ever cared enough about what happened to me to lie to their boyfriend before. When she came back out, we drove back to the melamine center. She paced around while I sat in the car with the heat on, watching the building, but not willing to walk around, it was cold. I saw a man on a motorcycle delivering pizza and got an idea.

"Hey, Gwen," I called out the window. I signaled for her to come into the car, then she shut the door. Torchwood could be listening, after all. "What if we go ask that pizza place across the street if they ever deliver to them? You're a cop, they'll tell you."

"That's brilliant," she said with a smile. "Come on then." We walked into the little store, a teenage boy was behind the counter.

"Gwen Cooper, CIT," she said, showing him her badge. "I'm making some inquiries around the bay, I need to check some people out on your list if that's okay. I don't suppose you deliver to a Captain Jack Harkness?" The boy shook his head.

"I don't know."

"Well, could you have a look?" The boy pressed some keys on his computer.

"No, he's not a regular, anyway."

"Okay, never mind, thanks anyway," Gwen said, heading out.

"What about Torchwood?" I asked.

"Alright. We do them all the time," he told me. "Good customers."

"Can we have a pizza?" I asked.

"I should bring you along more often," Gwen whispered, the pizza under her arm. "Could use you in the office."

"Thanks," I said beaming.

"Now stay out here and wait for me." I rolled my eyes.

"No way, it was my idea."

"Ali, you saw how dangerous it can be, it would be wrong for me to let you go in there."

"So?"

"So you're staying out here." I made a pouty face, then grabbed the pizza from her, pushing the door open before she could stop me. There was a man behind the counter. It looked like a normal office.

"Oh hi, sorry I'm late," Gwen said quickly, snatching the box back. "Someone ordered pizza?"

"Who's it for?" The man asked. He hadn't been with the others on last night, or the night before with the dead man.

"I think it's a Mr. Harkness," Gwen said. Suddenly, the wall next to us opened.

"Don't keep him waiting," the man said. Gwen started down the passage and I followed. She slipped her hand backwards, into mine, holding the box under her arm. Another door hissed open. It was circler with a couple of steps down. Inside, was the coolest room I'd ever seen in my life. It looked kind of like an army base, there were loose wires everywhere, water dripping from the celling. But it was huge. Something bubbled next to me and I looked to see a hand in a jar. I gripped Gwen's hand a little tighter. Blue sparks were flying off a desk where woman was hunched over something, a huge tower went up through the middle of the room. The woman stopped when we walked in. And there was the Captain, walking like were invisible, over to a desk and looking at some papers. The Japanese woman was at a computer, the second man next to her. She started giggling.

"I can't do this, I'm sorry!" The man turned in his chair. "I'm rubbish, I give up."

"He set me off!" The Japanese girl accused.

"Well, that lasted not but two point seconds," the other woman sighed, disappointed.

"Look, she's actually carrying pizza," the man laughed.

"Come on!" The captain was getting up from his desk. "They were going to say, here's your pizza and I was going to say how much and she says, I don't know, twenty quid and I say ooo I don't have any money. I was working on a punchline, had I got there. But it would have been good."

"Here's your pizza, I think we'd better go," Gwen said, gripping my hand.

"I think we've gone past that stage." Jack said sharply.

"You must have been freezing out there," The English woman said. "How long where you walking round, three hours?"

"You could see us?" I asked. She nodded.

"And before we go any further, who the hell orders pizza under the name of Torchwood?" The boss demanded.

"Uh, yeah, that would be me," the man said awkwardly.

"That man at the hospital, that porter, what happened to him?" Gwen asked. "That was real, wasn't it? He was attacked?"  
"He's dead," Jack said unsympathetically.

"But there's no one gone missing."  
"We took the body and retrozspetivly changed the work route, planted a false witness who saw him leaving the hospital, giving him an alaby for the next forty eight hours, so when his body's pulled out of the docks next Tuesday night, he's only been missing for three days."

"He was murdered, and you covered it up?"

"It's my job," she said offhandedly.

"What about that other man, John Tucker?" I asked. "In the alleyway last night, we saw you."

"And what did you see?" Jack asked me, stepping forward.

"You revived him."

"No, what did you see?" I gulped.

"You retested him."

"No." He looked me right in the eye. "What did you see?"

"You brought him back to life." My voice was really quiet now. He nodded.

"Yeah."

"Who are you?" Gwen demanded.

"Torchwood."

"What's Torchwood?"

"This is Torchwood. All around you."

"And what happens to us? I'm police, you can't do anything."

"Right then PC Cooper, do you want to come see? You saw the murder, come and see the murderer." He started to walk away and I followed.

"Ali!" Gwen snapped after me. I heard a screeching noise above me.

"Is that a dinosaur?!" I asked, watching it swoop over us.

"Taradactul," Jack corrected, putting his hands on my shoulders. "Coming?" I followed him down a flight of steps, Gwen closely behind me. Then I saw the monster, the thing from earlier that had killed the porter, but it was in a cage.

"It's alright, it's sedated. It's called a weevil, or at least we call them weevils. We don't know their real name because they're not to good at communicating. We've got a couple hundreds of them living in the city in the swears. But every once in a while one of them goes rouge, comes to the surface and attacks. It's been happening more and more and we have no idea why. But it's alien."

"Cool," I muttered, putting my hands up against the glass that separated me from it.

"Look into it's eyes," Jack told Gwen. She shook her head, standing back and looking sick. So Jack tried with me instead. "Take your time." It looked back at me. "It was born on a different world, and it's real." I turned and grinned at him. Gwen did not seem amused. Maybe it was time to go now, even though I really didn't want to. If she fainted, I'd be alone and I didn't trust these people, not yet. Jack lead us back upstairs.

"Owen Harper-"

"Doctor Owen Harper, thank you," he corrected. Jack ignored him.

"Tosheko, computer genus, Suzie Costello, she's second in command. And this is Ianto Jones. Ianto cleans up after us and gets us everywhere on time."

"I try my best."

"And he looks good in a suit."

"Carful, that's harassment, sir."

"But why are you telling us their names?" Gwen asked. "We're not suppose to know, are we? This classified."

"Way beyond classified."

"Then you shouldn't be telling us." She did have a point. "What are you going to do to us?"

"What do imagine?" Jack smiled. I was starting to get a little nervous.

"Well, we've seen to much, your names, the weevil. You could dump a man out in the water and lie about his death." Jack started giving orders. He stopped when he got to me.

"I don't know your name," he said with a smile.

"You didn't ask." He snickered.

"What's your name?"

"Ali Hale." He wasn't a police officer, after all. He got a strange look on his face.

"Hale?" he asked. I nodded. He turned to Gwen. "You're coming with me, you, kid, you're going with Suzie. Suzie, show her to my office."

"No way," Gwen said. "She's not leaving me sight."

"It's fine," I muttered.

"No, it's not."

"Gwen," I sighed.

"Hey," Jack said. "I'll look after her." She could tell she didn't have a choice, she wasn't winning this one. They left, Gwen glancing back at me as she went. I smiled, letting her know that I wasn't scared about being left here on my own. I followed Suzie up a set of steps into a small office.

"You can wait here," she told me, gesturing to an arm chair across from the desk.

"Thanks." She stood in the doorway. The others were leaving, but I guessed she had to watch me. What would I do if I was alone in this place anyway? That Taradactul might eat me. Suzie walked over to a small cooler across the room.

"Do you want seven up, coke, water or some type of purple juice?" she asked, smiling politely back at me.

"Coke please," I said. She handed it back to me, sitting down on top of the desk. I wondered if she'd do that if Jack was in the room. She seemed to be studying me and it was kind of making me nervous. I sipped my coke a little awkwardly.

"How old are you?" she asked randomly.

"Twelve." She frowned, the shook her head sadly.

"Why doesn't he just erase your memory?" she said more to herself.

"Erase my memory?" I asked.

"Yes," she replied. "We have a drug called ricoden. Makes you forget everything you saw, everything you did, everyone you spoke to in the last twenty four hours. That's what he's doing to Gwen right now."

"But that's not fair!" I said. "She doesn't want to forget, that's taking away freewill!" I realized suddenly that meant that Gwen would forget me too. Suzie chuckled.

"You're to smart for twelve," she accused. "What happened to you in your life that made you grow up? Where are your parents?"

"Why do you want to know?" I snapped. I didn't like this place anymore, I had to get out of this place before they made Gwen forget me. But there was no way this lady was letting me out of her sight.

"Who hurt you?" she asked quietly. I looked up at her, confused. She jumped off the desk, picking up my left wrist and moving the sleeve of my sweatshirt back, reveling an angry purple bruise. I quickly pulled it back down.

"Must have tripped or something," I said. She nodded, a smile on her face.

"I use to lie like that all time. Who hurt you?" she repeated her question.

"I live, or I lived with a jerk foster guy, okay?" I said, rubbing my arm. She'd found one of many bruises, but I could tell from the look on her face she knew exactly what I hid under all the layers I wore.

"So you don't have parents?" she asked. I shook my head.

"They shipped me here from America, if you hadn't figure that out. The guy they put me with was a jerk, so I ran away and then I met Gwen."

"And now we're taking her memories away," she realized. She sat back on the desk, looking at me sympathetic. I hated when people did that, looked at me like I was a ticking time bomb or some underprivileged little kid.

"So why did you use to lie then?" I demanded.

"My father was not a nice person," she replied simply. I had a feeling that was all she was going to tell me. I'd told her about my life, why wouldn't she tell me about hers? It was maybe a half an hour before Jack pushed open the door to his office.

"You can go home now Suzie," he said, not looking at me as he sat behind his desk.

"You better pay me extra for this," she said, winking at me as she closed the door behind her. Jack looked up at me, studying me the same way Suzie had.

"Did you erase Gwen's memory?" I asked. He smiled, glancing towards the door.

"What else did she tell you?"

"Nothing, did you make her forget or not?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you make me forget?"

"I'll make you a deal. You answer one of my questions and I'll answer one of yours." Really, I'm not fucking five.

"How old are you?" Why did everybody want to know how old I was? Did it matter, I looked like a kid, I was a kid, the end.

"Twelve," I answered. He sat back in his chair, looking at me thoughtfully.

"My turn," I said. "Why didn't you make me forget?"

"Because you remind me of someone I knew, and I'd like to figure out who you are. You said your last name was Hale? What was your mother's name?"

"I don't know," I replied honestly. "I never met her."

"What about your father, did you meet him?"

"It's my turn." He chuckled lightly, but waited. "Where do all these alien's come from and why do you collect them?"

"That's two questions, choose one."

"Seriously?" I asked. He nodded. "Fine, where do they come from?"

"There's a rift in time and space that goes through this city." It sounded ridiculous, but I believed him. "Did you ever meet your father?"

"No. My turn. Why do you collect these aliens?"

"Because that's what Torchwood does."

"That's not a real answer."

"You didn't give me a real one either."

"I told you the truth, I never met my father and I have no idea who he is." I was getting tired of this game. "Why do you want to find you about me? Did you know my mother or something?"

"Well, I'm not sure, because I don't know her name."

"Couldn't you find it?" I asked. "I saw all the hacking stuff you've got on your computers. You could look through thousands of data files, couldn't you?"

"You're good," he said. "You figured that out from a glance?" He came around the side of his desk, kneeling next to my chair. "What did you do to your arm?"

"Nothing." I put my hand over it, but he moved it aside, rolling up my sleeve to revile an arm full of bruises and cuts. He got an angry look on his face.

"Who did this to you?" he demanded.

"Ask Suzie." I angrily pulled my sleeve back down. He stood up, offering me his hand. I took it, seeming as I didn't really have a choice. He lead me back down the steps and then down another into a medical looking area.

"I'm fine!" I sighed. "There just bruises, I'm not going to die." He ignored this, lifting me onto the table. He rummaged around in a draw for a second, then turned back to me.

"Close your eyes," he ordered.

"Why?"

"I'm going to figure out who you are, Ali Hale, so close your eyes."  
"No way!" He dropped whatever he was holding in his hand back in the draw and came over to me.

"Twelve and a half years ago, knew a woman named Isabelle Hale," he told me. "We had a relationship, and then she suddenly disappeared, leaving a note saying she had to protect her baby. Protect it from me. You're smart, do you understand what that means?"

"Yeah," I said. "You got this lady pregnant and she was smart enough to get the hell out before he messed up her life like you're doing with Gwen's and mine. But that doesn't mean anything, there are lots of people named Hale."

"Right," he said. "Doesn't mean anything that you look just like her, you act like her, you never knew either of your parents, you're American, you're the right age, and we have the exact same eyes." I looked up at him. His eyes were an electric blue, the exact same color as mine. I gulped. No way that he could be, way to much of a conduce. Out of all the places I could come to in the world, out of all the people I could meet. There were lots of Hales. "Close your eyes," he said again. And this time I did. I heard him go back over the the draw and then come back. Something cold touched my arm, and ten I felt a prick and I winced, but I didn't open my eyes. He moved away from me again and I stayed motionless on the table and waited. I heard his breath catch and I felt a tear dripping down my cheek. He came back, his hands coming over mine while I still kept m eyes closed.

"Do you know who you are now?" he asked me quietly. I nodded, eyes still clamped shut. I felt him move a strand of hair away from my face and then whip the tear on my cheek away.

"What do we do now?" I asked.

"I don't know."

This place was so weird. I wasn't sure how long I'd slept for, there were no windows to tell me weather it was night or day, they'd apparently left me alone because I couldn't find anyone, and there were no god forsaken clocks in this whole place! While look, I had given myself a little tour, though. The glove was sitting on a desk that I assumed to be Suzie's. I considered leaving it, I should really leave it. Bu they really shouldn't have left me here alone. I ran the cold medal over in my hands.

"Pretty cool, huh?" the voice startled me and I dropped the glove with a clang back onto the desk. Suzie looked back at me, an amused smile on her face.

"I thought you went home," I said awkwardly.

"I did, last night. It's morning now, or it was. Sun just went down, you slept a long time."

"Oh."

"Do you want to see how it works?" She picked it up, slipping it on her hand. I was worried it would explode or something. She pointed to a dead fly lying on her desk. She waved the glove over it. It twitched, flipped it self over and flew over my head. "What to see something else?" she asked, grabbing a black bag and putting the glove in it.

"Are you allowed to take that out of here?" I asked.

"Of course," she smiled at me, then grabbed my arm, leading me towards the door. There was something the speed she was walking, just the urgency to her movements that was making me nervous. She didn't let go of my arm, even when we got outside into the real world again. She suddenly stopped.

"Wait right here," she ordered.

"Why?"

"Just wait," she said, walking away.

"Hello again," I heard Suzie's voice from the other side of the fountain. "You were right. You told Jack we should lays with the police, I was the only one who bothered, so I was the only one who saw your report." I peeked through the water. Gwen! But didn't Jack erase her memory? I was about to run out, when I saw Suzie reach into her bag, and pull out a huge silver knife.

"I'm arresting you for... how do I know you?" So they erased her memory. I stayed hidden, watching them. If I ran out now, I'd be in the same situation as Gwen.

"I thought you might have seen it," Suzie said. "And that can trick the agnismia, just one spastic image if you're clever. He said you were good. Anyway, it's not much good now, I can't really... You're gonna put up a fight, so I've got to." She put the knife back in her bag, but came out with a shotgun.

"Put it down," I heard Gwen say.

"You had to come back."

"Put down the gun."

"You're the only one who can make the link. Well, the only one in public. Torchwood's gonna find out by morning, but I'll be gone. I don't know where, far away." I heard her voice break. "What am I gonna do? I loved this job, I really loved it. And now I've got to run. How can you do any other job after this one?"

"Please put down the gun."

"Cause it gets inside you. You do this job for long enough and you end up thinking, how come we get all the weevils and blokes and shit? Is that what alien life is? Filth? Well, maybe there's better stuff out there. Brilliant stuff, beautiful stuff. But they don't come here. This planet's so dirty, all we get is shit."

"I don't know what you're talking about." She sounded really scared, but I couldn't move.

"I wish I could forget," she said.

"Why did you kill those people?" Gwen demanded.

"For the glove. I needed the bodies, that's how it works, violent death. It was so easy. To bring them back, I'd just position myself behind their head, so they'd never see me twice."

"You killed three people."

"It was the only way. The more I use the glove, the more I control it! If I can get enough practice, then think what the glove could do. If I could get it to work all the time, on anything for more then two minutes, to work permitly, it could resurrect! Well that's what I've been working for all day and all night. The rest of them go swilling about while I'm working. You gotta get inside this stuff. Surrender yourself to it. I did with the knife and the glove and that's why the perception filter isn't going to work on me." She shot off to the side and Jack's body fell onto the pavement. I let out an unintentional squeak and she turned on me.

"Ali, I'm so sorry." She pointed the gun on me.

"Suzie?" I asked. She wouldn't shoot me.

"I've got to," she said. " I can't let you go, I've got to." She raised her gun, her hand on the trigger.

"Please don't," Gwen said from behind me, putting her hand on my arm. My whole body was shaking.

"Put down the gun." Jack was standing behind her, a bullet injury in his head, but he was standing. And then his skin just kind of came back, as if there was never a wound there in the first place. He held out his hand to Suzie.

"Give me the gun, it's over. Come with me." She looked back, her eyes meeting mine. Gwen's hand was grasping mine so tight I was loosing feeling. Suzie raised the gun to her throat and before Jack could move to stop her, she pulled the trigger. I turned into Gwen's chest and her arms tightened around me.

"I remember," she whispered.

"Owen and Toshiko. You don't tell them that were shot in the head and survived."

"You didn't tell them either, you followed my lead. Keep doing that and you might just get through this." I was standing on a roof next to Jack Harkness, watching as the sun slowly crept up in the once dark sky.

"But she killed you. I saw her kill you." He looked at me almost sympathetically.

"I can't die."

"Okay,"I sighed, playing along.

"But I can't. Something happened to me a while back, a long story and far away. Maybe I'll tell you about it someday. But I was killed and then I was brought back to life and ever since then, I can't die."

"But how-"

"I don't know. One day I'll find a doctor, the right sort of doctor and maybe he can explain it, but until then-"

"Nothing kills you?"

"Well, it sort of creeps people out, so, best if you don't say anything. Just keep it between you, me and Gwen."

"But it doesn't matter," I sighed. "You'll only wipe her memory again."

"Why would I do that?" I turned to look at him. "I'm giving her a job, Torchwood's got a vacancy. What about you? Want to join up?"

"What?" I asked, not able to get anything out of my mouth.

"Well, what else am I going to do with you?" he asked. "You're to smart for me to recon you, plus you're my kid, I cant' just get rid of you. So what do you say? Do you want to join up?"

"Yeah. Yeah I do."


	2. Day One

Reviews are very welcome!

Bowling. I never thought I'd actually go bowling in the first place, never mind with a family, or at least, people I could sort of call a family. It had been two days since I'd met Gwen Cooper and her and her boyfriend who we'd both been blatantly lying to, had been nothing but nice to me. Rhys was great. I liked how he talked to me like I was an adult and not some silly little kid. He'd totally bought the story Gwen had told him about her having to house me for a while. We also bullshited Gwen sighing me up from school and driving me there every morning, when really, I was going to go to work with her.

Of course, Jack said he wouldn't let me do real stuff, real stuff such as actually leaving the hub. Mostly, I'd stay behind the screen of a computer, watching the rest of team walking through dark streets as I played lookout. But, it was better then school.

"Ugh, you're rubbish!" Rhys was saying to Gwen as we walked out. She'd gotten at least three strikes against him and he was still pouting. A flash of light suddenly caught my eye. There was a giant ball of fire shooting across the dark sky. At first, I thought it was a comet, but it was way to big, and to close. Maybe a meteor?

"Is that a plane on fire?" Rhys asked. It went over our heads, hissing so loud it made my ears ring. I ran after it.

"Oi, where are you going?!" Rhys shouted after me. There was a huge bang and the ground shook. A large crowd of people had gathered on the sidewalk all around me as Gwen and Rhys caught up. Gwen's pocket started beeping.

"I've gotta go to work," she told Rhys. "Rhys, why don't you to Banana's? Try and figure out what all this and I'll drive Allie home." Before he could protest, we were taking off down the street. It amazed me how she came up with these stories so fast. The hub wasn't far from where we were, so we just ran there. The others were already gathering outside when we ran up, out of breath.

"Get in," Jack said, pointing to the van.

"Me too?" I asked. He waved his hand, clearly in a hurry. I jumped in the back between Gwen and Tosh. Gwen didn't seem to thrilled about me being with them, but it was just a gas ball, right? Not like I was going to get a gun pointed at me, been there, done that.

"Simple locating, cleanup operation," Jack said from behind the wheel. "Find that meteorite before anyone else gets their hands on it." So I was right, it was a meteor.

"Good to see you, by the way," Jack said, smiling back at Gwen and I. Tosh pulled out a huge computer.

"You got enough kit?" Gwen asked.

"Basic tracking equipment," she said. I looked at the screen. I was good with computers, always had been. Tosh pointed out the crash site to me, a blinking red dot in the middle of the screen. "We can tap into CIT networks, central data bases-"

"This is the police computer system, you shouldn't have this," Gwen said. Tosh just smiled. I thought it was cool.

"Might want to stop saying you and start saying we," Jack suggested. Owen looked in the review mirror at me.

"Are we babysitting?" he asked.

"Apparently, want a pacifier?" He was about to shoot something back at me, when we pulled up to a large wall of bodies.

"Shit, the ammeters got here first." There were police _everywhere. _The whole area was blocked off.

"Hold on, Allie, I left my kit in the van, can you run back and get it?" Gwen asked, running after the other before I could say no. I knew it was her way of trying to get me to stay behind, wasn't going to work. I booked it over to the van, grabbed her shit and then ran after them before they could disappear. I slipped through the police, who were to busy to notice a kid running through a crime scene. That is, until I reached the tent where Jack's blue coat disappeared.

"Who the hell are you?" A pissed off man demanded. "This area's restricted."

"I'm with Torchwood," I told him.

"Don't mess with me, little girl. You're not with Torchwood." He stepped forward like he was going to throw me out. "And even if you were-"

"You're to put out the welcome banners." Jack slipped past them, grabbing my arm. "Now first of all, she's no little girl. But she is Torchwood, we both are, and we'd appreciate if you'd leave us to do the real work." The cops didn't protest this time as Jack led me out of the tent, over over to where the others were gathered around a huge rock.

"Standard space derby," Owen said as I slipped next to Gwen. "That's a technical term."

"Yeah, thanks," I muttered sarcastically. They took out a ton of shit, waving it around the rock while Gwen and I sort of stood there. Gwen walked over to Jack, trying to make herself useful. I was perfectly happy watching, this stuff was so cool. But Owen was having none of that.

"Make yourself useful sweetheart, pass us the big chisel from the tool box."

"Not sweetheart, Allie, one syllable I'm sure you can mange it," I snapped. "Not sweet cheeks? Freckles? New Girl?"

"You know, it's a shame your tool's not big enough for the job!" I snapped.

"Stop," Gwen said like a nagging mother, grabbing the chisel and threw it at him. He missed it and it went into the meteor. A blue gas started leaking out if it.

"Nice catch!" I said before someone put a gas mask over my mouth. A purple light shot out of the meteor, rising up in the air and flying away.

"I'm so sorry!" Gwen said for the millionth time. "I mean, really, really sorry." Why was she apologizing? I was the one who made her throw it.

"Didn't they teach you health and safety in the police?" Owen asked. I was getting sick of this guy.

"You were chucking tools at each other..." Gwen muttered.

"We didn't miss."

"You're the one who missed it," I pointed out.

"On the plus side, we've got good evidence," Jack said, opening up the case of rock we'd brought back.

"On the downside, we've got an Alien on the loose, we don't know where it is, why it's here, or what it's gonna do."

"Give her a break," Tosh said.

"We all make mistakes, get over it," Jack said calmly. "Now we find and recover whatever got out of there." A cough came from above us. Ianto was holding a clipboard and a pen. I wondered how long he'd been there.

"This might help, nightclub death, circumstances sound a little unusual. Might be connected."

"So, what's this suppose to do?" Gwen asked, looking at the transparent screen Jack was playing with.

"I'm using satellite tracking data to determine the inward trajectory of the meteorite," he told her. Gwen looked confused, so I explained.

"He means he's trying to find out where it's come from."

"Hey, sometimes a little technobabble is good for the soul," Jack informed me.

"Rhys, my boyfriend, he's a transport manger. He does this sort of stuff," Gwen mused.

"On a slightly smaller scale," I added. I wasn't sure if she was just trying to make conversation, or she was legit comparing Rhys's truck job to trucking down an Alien.

"What's this doing?" I asked Tosh. Her computer was flashing pictures of people's faces on the screen.

"I've taken an image of the girl from the CCT footage," she told me. "This tracks her face through the UK population."

"You can't have every face in the UK on there," I said, amazed. The computer narrowed it down to 119 results.

"What about the finger prints I took on the alley wall?" Gwen asked. No results for that.

"It was a long shot anyway," she muttered.

"Yeah, just a bit," Owen said from behind his computer, sipping his coffee.

"At least she's trying to do something," I said under my breath.

"The CCT must have picked up her arrival at the club," Jack said before Owen could snip back at me. "Tosh can you reformat the image recognition sofwhere to trace her journey backwards via the street camera network? Allie, maybe you can help. You don't look confused."

"Wouldn't that take forever to process?" I asked. Tosh gave me an approving look. "We could also cross-reference that with the addresses of the remaining face matches." Jack smiled.

"Good idea. Maybe I can find a use for you."

"You locked her up in a cell?" I asked.

"Yep," Jack said, sitting in the rolling chair next to me. "Can you mange turning on the camera's in the volts kiddo?"

"Volts?" I asked.

"The cells," he said with a smile.

"Yeah, here." They'd been gone a while, I'd taken the liberty of playing around on their computer program.

"Alright, go see if the others need some help, alright?"

"Did you send Gwen down there alone?" I demanded, seeing her figure standing in front of the cell.

"Go see if the others need some help," he said, his eyes not leaving the screen. I rolled my eyes, but he was the boss. I saw Gwen coming up the steps a while later, staring at the ground.

"You okay?" I asked. I heard clapping behind me. Owen was grinning ear to ear at the top of the stairs.

"Way to go newbie, that is what I call a methodical investigation! I can't wait to see you take down her particulars." Gwen took off like a bullet, grabbing him by the collar and throwing him against the wall.

"That girl's body has been overrun by I don't know what and you think it's a joke?" she demanded. "We should be helping her, she's not some lab rat!"

"No, she's a murder, and you were the one who wanted her caught. How come suddenly she's your best friend?" he asked calmly, even though he was still pinned against a wall.

"You know, strictly speaking, throttling the staff is my job," Jack said, breaking them apart. "Honestly, I'll have to get Allie to babysit you."

"So, who's for Chinese?" Ianto asked.

"So what has he told you?" Tosh demanded. I put down my egg role to stare back at her.

"What about?"

"Himself!"

"You've been here longer then she has," Gwen pointed out.

"We were banking on you," Tosh sighed, clearly disappointed. "He seems to like you."

"You don't know anything?" I asked.

"Not who he is, not where he's from," Owen muttered. "Nothing. Except him being gay."

"No he's not," I said. I hadn't even told Gwen, I differently wasn't telling them. In fact, whenever the thought that Jack Harkness was my father flickered across my mind, I'd quickly push it away. But he definitely wasn't gay.

"Period military is not the dress code of a straight man," Owen said.

"I think it suits him, kind of classic," Gwen said.

"Exactly," Tosh agreed. "I've watched him in action, he'll shag anything if it's gorgeous enough." Could this conversation stop now?

"We know he's from America, right?" Gwen asked, slipping into police mode.

"We don't even know that for sure. No USA citizen by the name of Jack Harkness born in the last fifty years."

"He must have his reasons for wanting to keep things secret," I said.

"Sure he does." Owen leaned across the table towards me. "Doesn't stop me from wanting to know what they are." Gwen looked at her watch.

"Shit!" she exclaimed. "I promised I'd meet Rhys for dinner, we have to go Al."

"I don't want to leave yet," I argued.

"I'll drive her home," Tosh offered. Gwen sighed, clearly in to much of a rush to put up an argument. She grabbed her bag and ran out the door. A crying sound suddenly cut through the awkward silence. On the screen, the Alien girl was sobbing in her cell.

"What are we doing eating Chinese while a girl fights for her life?" I asked. Jack came back in, taking his seat.

"Actually, while we've been eating, the computers have been running a full bio scan. Coifing her blood, metabolism, organs and the works, so we can see what effect the Alien's having on her. They've also been taking samples of the air in the cell, so we can analyze any changes in the environment around her. Now, is that enough? Do you want more? Cause it gets kind of boring."

"You've been hidden down here to long," I muttered. "You're spending so much time with the Alien stuff that you've lost what it means to be human." Jack chuckled.

"So remind us. Tell me what it means to be human in the 21st century."

"What's all this?" Jack asked, gesturing at the papers I'd taped up all over the wall.

"Kares Fletcher, born seventh of November 1987. School reports, personal files from her temping agency, swimming badges from when she was six, reports on her mother's death in a car crash when she was ten."

"Why have you done this?"

"This isn't about meteorites or gases. This is a trapped girl and we have to save her. She's in there crying, she's not just some scary Alien like in Star Wars." He was staring at me. "Have I got something on my face?"

"No, just it's... brilliant." You are brilliant."

"Okay, thanks," I said. "I think we should bring in her dad."

"You're kidding."

"We have to find someone to connect with her, make her fight back."

"Our priority is to contain the Alien threat, not put civilians in a cell with it." And he was right back to treating me like a child. Tosh's voice came over the speaker.

"You should take a look at this." We walked over to her computer. "This is the normal chemical conniption of the air in that cell," she said, then she pressed a button and red wavy lines. "These are the readings from the last hour. The Alien is creating an ultra powerful blend of air air born fragments." We both stared at her. "Sex fragments," she clarified.

"She's a walking aphrodisiac," Jack announced. "Now, still want to put her father in the cell?" I shook my head, he'd obviously won this one.

"We can't let any man near- Owen!" They both whipped around. Tosh and I took off down the stairs. When we reached the bottom, Tosh put her hands over my eyes.

"Jack," Keres is out of her cell," I heard her say.

"Cheeky bitch took my swipe card!" Owen yelled. I pulled away from Tosh. Owen was butt naked, standing in the cell. I quickly turned my back to him, stifling my laughter. It's not like I hadn't seen naked guys before, this was just hilarious.

"I was taking some readings, you know, keeping an eye on her, and bang!"

"You got away lightly," Tosh said, a little awkwardly. "Be thankful she was only interested in your swipe card.

"Are you alright now?" I asked with fake sincerity. "Or are you still feeling a bit of a cock?" We ran back up the stairs, leaving Owen to compose himself. Jack wasn't there, neither was Keres.

"Upstairs," Tosh said, pointing to the open door. We ran down the long creepy hallway, into the Ianto's man cave. Jack was kneeling on the ground cradling the severed hand that had been in the glass jar downstairs.

"Call Gwen," Tosh ordered. "Stay here."

"You can't go by yourself," I protested.

"No offense Allie, but I don't think you'd be much help," said, running out the door. Yeah, thanks. I called Gwen, telling her to come in and give Rhys my love, cause he was probably pissed she had to go again. Jack was still on the ground, cradling the hand like a baby.

"Need some help?" I asked, eyeing the broken jar. He looked up at me, and for a second, it was like it wasn't even him. His eyes seemed far away. But it was only for a second, then he turned back into bossy Jack.

"Grab those pieces, use tape, glue, whatever you can find.

"Ay ay captain." I paused. "After all I said, is a severed hand really more important to you then Keres's life?"

"I infected the rat with the air we found at the crash site and at the nightclub." The rat's beady little eyes were looking at me from the glass case Owen had trapped it in. Rats freaked me out, it was just a fact. "Once the gases start to flow around the body, the party really starts." Party? Owen turned on the screen where a digram of the rat's body lit up. "The heart rate triples, the brain swells, pressing against the skull." Uh oh. "As that keeps going, the lungs began to shrink, making it impossible to breath. The pressure increases on all the internal organs until-" The rat promptly exploded, the blood splattering against the cage. I shrieked, jumping back like it could hit me.

"Rat Jam," Owen announced proudly.

"Ew!" I corrected, hugging my arms to my chest. "That's what's going to happen to Keres?"

"I'm loosing, that's what she said to me," Gwen said.

"Right now it's a struggle between where Keres ends, and the Alien begins."

"So we have to find her then," Jack said, jumping into action. He gave everyone orders, stopping at me. "You stay here."

"I can help!" I protested.

"Yes, you can. You can find her, then we go, you stay here and direct us. I need you on the screen Allie." Did he think I was so stupid that he could charm me like that? "So what are we talking about? Brothels, lap dance clubs, anywhere there's eager men?"

"Well, I know where I'd go. Figure out who Keres loves. Boyfriend, ex boyfriends. Ex boyfriends. Find the most recent ex boyfriend she's had."

"I can't believe you let her do that."

"What are you, her mother?" Jack clearly wasn't in the mood. But the Alien was dead, that was the important part, weather Gwen's life had been put in danger or not. Keres was Alive and the Alien was dead.

"Is it like this every day?" I asked quietly.

"Yes. Want to quit yet?" I laughed.

"No way. Can't get rid of me that easy." I headed towards the door to meet Gwen in the car.

"Hey kid!" He called after me. "Do one thing for me. Don't let this job consume you. You've got so much life left. We need that."

"Who are you Jack? You can't die, you tell me the 21st century's where it all changes, that we have to prepared."

"So you do."

"But how can you know?"

"You think knowing the answers would make you feel better?"

"Who are you? What are you doing here? Are you an Alien too?" He sighed.

"Go home Allie Hale. Stay up watching movies longer then you should, eat ice cream, be normal. For me."

"Home?" I asked. "Jack, I don't have a home. I'm living with Gwen and her boyfriend, like I'm imposing on their lives. I've never had a home, alright? I don't know what that word means." I headed for the door and this time, he didn't stop me.

Please review!


	3. Ghost Machine

Ghost machine

"Owen, Gwen, left into the alley, right thirty meters," Tosh ordered.

"What is it, what can you see?" Gwen's voice came over my headset.

"We can't get a visual, just a signal, definitely alien in origin," I said, feeling really techie. "Diagonal right towards the castle."

"Jack, sharp right, twenty meters," Tosh said, looking at the screen that showed a little black van driving through a sea of road blueprints.

"Can you identify the target?" he asked.

"I'm still trying to get a visual," I told him. Security was really tight here on the CT cameras, plus this thing was was moving fast. "Guys, twenty seconds to contact." This was fun and all, but I wished I was out there with them. "Got it!" I said happily. "I got a visual. He's male, wearing a hoodie." Gwen was running faster then Owen, she'd get him. Tosh and I followed through the maze of street cameras, trying to to loose the boy wile Gwen ran after him.

"Yey, you did it!" I said happily, seeing the beeping alien light on Gwen's little red dot.

"I was that close!" she said, disappointment flooding her voice.

"No, you've got it," I muttered, looking at the screen again. Tosh pushed a couple of buttons.

"I've lost him, Allie."

"No, I swear, whatever it is, you're holding it."

"This is the feed from the station camera, Gwen grabs the kid, gets she gets jacket and he just slips out."

"And then?" Gwen seemed really shaken up about this. She said she saw a little boy when she was holding the alien thing she found in the boy's jacket pocket. She saw a little kid wandering around who said he was lost. But that wasn't on the security feed, I'd watched it three times already. She just stood there for a couple seconds, then Jack and Owen ran in. What she was describing couldn't have even happened in the timeframe that she was standing there. "It was as real as this is, more real. I didn't just see that little boy, I could hear what he was thinking, I could feel it. Like I was lost."

"Tense emotion can be part of a neurological event," Owen said. "Hallucinations, denture." I rolled my eyes. These two had been getting even worse over the corse of this week. They were at each others throat's constantly. Honestly, I couldn't stand Owen either. He looked at me like I was something to eat. Gwen sighed.

"I wasn't hallucinating Owen, and I'm not bloody senile."

"You pushed this button and that caused this apparition moment?" Jack asked, looking at the alien device like he was going to push it.

"Don't!" I said, not wanting to have another emotionally unstable person. My shout of protest was echoed by the others.

"As if!" Jack said. "Ladies, where do we start?"

"We've got lots of CT TV of the guy you were chasing," Tosh said. "Tracking him down is going to be easy. The little boy, you said there was a name on the card around his neck?"

"Flannagin," Gwen said. "Tom Flannagin."

"Unusual name, I can find him," I assured her.

"Found him!" Owen said. "Flannagin, Tomas. 74 Bern's Road U town. He's in the phone book." Wow, thanks a lot for taking my job.

"Shawn Harris, aka Burnnie," I said gesturing at my screen. "He's nineteen years old and he has a reputation for stealing things. He was stealing tires when the oner showed up, gives him so much grief he apologies and starts putting them on again when the police show up. Some thief."

"So, what next?" Tosh asked.

"This kid, Burnnie, where does he live?" Jack asked.

"Splot," I read the name.

"Splot?" Owen demanded.

"I believe estate agents pronounce it Splow," Ianto said, correcting me a little more kindly.

"Don't say I never take you anywhere," Jack sighed. "Allie, you want to go on this one? You're close to his age, might as well get out of here for a while." I almost did a happy dance.

*  
"Hi, I'm looking for Burnnie," I said, glancing at the woman who had thrown the door open. Her cigarette was pouring smoke into my face. "Is he home?"

"Friend of his, are you?" the grumpy woman asked. "Well I'm his mother and he's a rotten little bastard who's not setting a foot in this house until he pays me the fifty quid he owes me!" And the door slammed in his face. Gwen was chuckling when I walked back over to her and Tosh.

"Nice try, Al." Owen wandered over to us with a bag. "Any luck?"

"Nope. I got five pasties for a pound. Anyone?" Jack walked over as I bit into my food, looking at us like he was disappointed.

"We tried Jack," I said, feeling bad. He just walked away. Lunch break was over. Jack lead us under an overgrown bridge.

"Where are we going?" Gwen asked, stepping over a thorn bush.

"Back to the railway station. We replicate the original events as much as possible, observe and analyze the results." I wrinkled my nose. Sounded like a school experiment.

"Uh, I don't mean to be picky, but I can spot some flaws in this," Owen said, turning the alien thing over in his hand.

"I'm sorry, I thought you were the guys who gave up looking for a nineteen year old kids this morning?" Jack demanded. "I figured maybe you were after something more exciting. Bit a challenge!"

"Wow Owen, nice, you pissed him off," I sighed, going after him and the girls. I heard a gasp from behind us. "You alright?" I asked.

"She was so scared," he gasped. "I couldn't help her, I couldn't move."

"Elizabeth Louis, Lizzy, only child of Maple Anne Louis, died March twenty ninth 1963. Raped and murdered, thirteen years old."

"That's a year older then me," I mumbled. "It says they never brought it to trail, never knew who did it."

"She told her mum she'd be home by nine," Owen muttered from the couch. "So what about Ed Morgan? That's what she called him. 'You're a bad one, Ed Morgan.' Look him up."

"So where did they come from?" Gwen asked. "It's like being haunted." Jack's eyes lit up.

"Quantum transducer!" He pointed to the digram of the thing rotating on the screen.

"What's it do?" I questioned. Tosh explained.

"Transducers convert energy from one form into another. They're in headphones, they convert electrical singles into sound and their in this device too. Creating quantum energy and amplifying it into manifestations."

"Of course," Jack said, smiling. "It's a emotion. Human emotion is energy. You can't always see it or hear it, but you can feel it. Ever had deja vu? Felt someone walk over your grave? Ever felt someone behind you in an empty room? Where there was." I'm sleeping with the lights on tonight. "There always is."

"What else have we got on Lizzie Louis?" Owen demanded. Did he hear anything Jack just said? She was a ghost. It was this alien thing that mattered. Tosh walked over to her computer.

"1963, the records aren't always that detailed."

"What about newspapers? Witness statements, corners reports?"

"Owen!" Jack snapped. He'd obviously had enough. I felt bad for Owen. Jack shouldn't be judging him if he hand't felt the effects of this thing himself. Only Gwen could understand. "For the case to be reopened, you'd need new evidence or a new witness."

"I saw what happened."

"No you didn't, you weren't there. You saw the echo of a moment amplified by alien technology! So just tell me how that will play in court."

"Well, since when did we care about court?"

"Tomorrow we go looking for Burnnie Harris and we find out what he knows about this ghost machine. We do our job and find where this thing came from,now go home! Allie, come with me." Well, that was the end of that conversation. I followed him down into a part of the hub I'd never been in before. He was standing in a huge tunnel that I couldn't see the end of. There were guns laid out on a table and a bunch of paper cutouts of weevils that were obviously suppose to be targets.

"You need to know how to use these." He pointed to the guns. "Though I hope you never have to."

"Jack," I muttered. "I'm twelve." He smiled.

"But you're part of this team, you need to know how to defend yourself. I'm not saying I want you walking around with these things, just for future reference."

"For future reference," I repeated. My heart was beating really fast. I didn't want to admit to him that the idea of shooting a gun kind of scared me. I'd never even thought about shooting anything before. He put a pair of earphones on me and handed me goggles. He loaded the smallest of the guns and handed it to me. I took it, and he quickly grabbed my hand, pointing it at the ground.

"Target's that way."

"Oops." I pointed the gun up. He lowered my hands.

"Let's leave the roof in one piece, shall we? One hand, not two. Turn sideways to the target. Looking along your shoulder, down your arm. Straight line to the sights. Bring up the gun. Woh! Too fast." He gripped my shoulders. "It's all in the breathing." He put his hand over mine, slowly helping me raise the gun. "Hold it firmly. Don't grip it. Good. Breath in, focus. Breath out. Squeeze gently." The blast caused my hand to fly back more then I thought it would, but besides that, it actually felt amazing. I giggled.

"That was a joined effort." He had a big grin on his face, he looked almost proud. "Like I said, I hope you never have to use them."

"So when do you get to go home?" I asked. "You seem to live here. Or do you? You don't live here, do you?"  
"Gotta be ready. Twenty first century's when it all changes. And I hate the commute."

"Where do you sleep?"

"I don't."

"You've gotta sleep sometime. I mean, doesn't it get lonely at night?"

"Do you need a ride home?" That was a random change of subject.

"Gwen's probably waiting for me. Goodnight." Well, I tired. I tried to get him to talk to me and he just blew me off again. Forget it. Maybe I wanted to get to know him better, did you ever consider that? Was he ever gonna mention that fact he was my father?

"Gwen?" She had tear stains all over her face as she walked into the hub. "What happened?"

"My office," Jack told her. I followed them. She sank into a chair in front of his desk and I sat next to her. She seemed like she needed some moral support. Jack didn't seem upset by the fact I was in there, in fact, he quickly filled me in. "She activated the alien artifact again. Said she saw Owen-"  
"I didn't see him." She cut him off. "I didn't see anybody but me. Just said his name."

"Burnnie said he saw himself dead in the street, you saw Owen with the knife."

"You found Burnnie?!" Why didn't people tell me things? I mean, I saw them all run out and Jack said they'd be right back, but that was about it. They both ignored me.

"But I was holding it. My hands were covered in blood."

"That was one future, one of many possible futures."

"Owen's gonna kill Burnnie in the future?!" I demanded.

"Allie, just shut up for a second," Jack ordered. "Gwen don't know what she saw and it probably won't even happen. Let's just keep calm alright ladies?"

"Can I start helping now?" I asked. "Maybe I could talk to Burnnie? I mean, we're both teenagers."

"Barely," Gwen muttered.

"You know what you can do?" Jack asked. "Watch Owen. Seems like a simple enough job, you can be pretty damn distracting. Deal?"

"I don't want to babysit Owen."

"It's not babysitting, it's... observing. Now go do your job."

"So did you find Ed Morgan yet?" I asked. "You said he was in the phone book. DId you get his address?" Owen glanced at me. That was a yes. "What did you do?"

"I just asked him a couple of questions, that's all, alright?" He got up. "It wasn't a big deal so don't you go spreading rumors."

"Too late." Jack was standing on the stairs watching us. He picked up his phone. "Ed Morgan, Owen went freelance earlier, decided to pay him a visit." He was obviously talking to Gwen who had gone home to see Rhys for a while. Sounds like our friend Burnnie Harris got there first. Tried to blackmail him. Ed thought Owen was part of the same outfit. Are you home yet?" Her answer made Jack's eyes light up with concern. "We're heading over, stay right there. Owen, with me. Tosh, Allie, keep and eye on CCTV incase Burnnie makes a run for it-"

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Gwen decided to go see Burnnie, she's in danger, Ed Morgan might be on his way over there."

"If she's in danger, I'm going with you."

"We don't have time to debt this right now!"

"Then don't!" I grabbed my coat.

"It's to dangerous!"

"You said I was part of this team to!" He looked at the door, then back to me. I knew I was putting Gwen's life in danger by holding him back, but I didn't want to stand by and watch anymore. Gwen was important to me and I wanted to help.

"Get in the damn car and stay near me!" He pushed me out the door. Owen gave me a disapproving glare. I didn't care what he thought. We were going really fast, I was afraid Owen was going to hit some kid or something. We jumped out of the van at the end of the street. When Gwen came into view, she was standing facing us beside Burnnie, an old man was point a knife at them. Jack put his arm out, telling me silently to stay.

"It's what you want, isn't it?" The old man was saying. Jack and Owen were creeping up on him. They grabbed his arms. Gwen pinned Burnnie to the ground. Then I remembered my job, I was suppose to watch Owen. He was picking up the knife.

"I've got the knife Edwin," he said. "You were so close. You were going for her, weren't you? Just like with Lizzie. I've got the knife Edwin." He held it up to the old man's throat. "Why should you get away with it?"

"Owen."

"What if I didn't stop?"  
"Owen!" Jack couldn't move to stop him, he was holding Edwin back and Gwen was hiding Burnnie down.

"Owen," I took a step forward. "Give me the knife, okay?" He looked at me for a second, then surrendered it.

"Go and deal with Burnnie!" Jack ordered him. Edwin looked at me, his eyes winded.

"Lizzie," he whispered. What? "I knew you'd come for me!" Then he threw himself at me. The knife went into his chest and he fell backwards. Owen stared pressing on his chest, then he looked up at me. There was blood all over my hands. My head started spinning. Was he dead? There was to much blood. Did I kill him?

"Allie," Gwen put her arms around my shoulders. "Jack, how could you let her come?! She's a little girl! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

I was sitting in the hub with a blanket around my shoulders, leaning on Gwen's shoulder. I just wanted to curl into a ball and sleep forever.

"He wanted to die," she told me comfortingly, but I was far from comforted. I still killed him wether he wanted to be dead or not. "He would have found a way no matter what."

"I screwed up, I know I did." Owen actually sounded remorseful. "I could have killed him, but I didn't."

"No, I did."

"Tosh is right, could have been anyone." Jack looked really guilty, differently more guilty then Owen. Gwen had given him some serious crap the whole ride home. I finally got my chance to go out there with them and I ended up stabbing somebody in the heart. "Come on," Jack said, brushing a strand of hair out of my face. "Let's go talk, okay?" I moved away from Gwen, following him up the roof, the same place he took me that first day.

"I killed him," I whispered, watching the sun rise over the water. "I've still got blood on my hands."

"It's my fault," he whispered. "I shouldn't have let you come and I'm sorry. But you didn't kill him. He killed himself." He nudged me. "Come on, Al. Look, the sun's coming up. The city will be awake soon. All those people, all that energy."

"All those ghosts."

"We're surrounded by them. We can't see them, we can't touch them, but they're there alright. A million shadows of human emotion." He looked me right in the eye. "We've just gotta learn to live with them."

"I don't want to stop," I told him. "Just because of this. I want to keep going, helping people."

"You don't have to redeem yourself-"

"That's not what I'm saying. Just, just don't make me go away." He chuckled.

"Make you go away? How could I ever do that, Allie Hale?" He put his arm around me, pressing his lips to my hair. "I just have to do a better job from now on."

"Better job at what?"

"Being a dad."


	4. Cyberwoman

Hi Ianto." I peered at him over the top of my computer. He was wandering around, like he was looking for something. He jumped like I surprised him, then smiled at me.

"Hello Allie."

"Look for something?" He shook his head. Ianto was weird, I'd come to that conclusion. The lights flickered, then dimmed. A high pitched alarm started going off on the lower levels. I got up and went over to Tosh.

"What's happening?'

"Internal power drain."

"What's causing it?"

"Something big to drain that amount of power." There was the boss. "Tosh, run a system diagnostic."

"Actually, we've been having generator problems all evening," Ianto said. "I was down there checking earlier. Couple of pieces of cabling have come loose. I thought I fixed it. I'll go have another look." There was something wrong with him. He wasn't looking directly at any of us.

"Do you want some help?" I asked.

"I'm fine." He walked away. He wasn't fine, he was acting even weirder then normal. I wished Gwen was here, she'd probably notice it too, but she was spending the night with Rhys. Needless to say, I hadn't wanted to stick around the flat. Tosh had something pulled up on her screen that distracted me. It was footage of a little blurb flying around the dark sky.

"Is that a UFO?" I asked. Jack nodded.

"Tosh, send them a polite message telling them it's nice to see them, but could they please get the hell out of our atmosphere, they're spoking the locals." Cool. The lights started blinking again. Jack tapped his wrist strap.

"Ianto, we've got another of darkness. Find anything?" Ianto didn't respond. "Ianto, I need hear those beautiful Welsh vowels." I tapped a few buttons on Tosh's computer.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Looking for heat singles. The power's being drained from the basement." There were two red dots on the screen. That wasn't good. "So, assuming one's Ianto," I muttered.

"I'm thinking we're under attack. We assume battle protocols!" Everyone started running around. I just stood there, not really knowing what to do. But they were all running around grabbing stuff, and Ianto could be in trouble! I headed for the basement. I knew Jack wouldn't be too happy about that, but I felt so useless standing here. Besides, I had a gun and I knew how to shoot it now. The lights were flickering really bad as I walked down the hall. They eventually went out complete and I pulled out my phone for light. I came up to a door, there were flashing lights behind it. Was Ianto in there?

"Allie, what the hell are you doing?!" Of course Owen would be the one to catch me.

"Saving Ianto."

"You don't just run off like that!" He grabbed my arm. "The coms are out because there's no power, go back."

"No way, I found this door."

"This is not a game!" He looked over my shoulder. "What the hell is going on? There's some type of operating table in there." He kicked the door open. The weird operating table thing was sparking with blue light. There were wires everywhere. It was like a mad scientists laboratory.

"What is that?"

"It's wrong, it's beyond wrong, it shouldn't be here." Owen looked really nervous. "Allie, can you figure out how to turn it off?" I looked at the computer.

"Uh, yeah, maybe?"

"Then do it!"

"Wow, there's an off switch," I muttered, flicking it down. The lights started coming back on. Owen was staring at the operating table thing.

"These things brought down Torchwood one. The were all destroyed. Why is there one in our bloody basement?!"

"What is that thing?"

"This machine turns humans into Cybermen."

"Cybermen? Like robots?"

"If I don't hear something within thirty seconds, I'm coming down there," Jack's voice said from Owen's coms. Owen responded.  
"I found here, we're good. The coms dropped out."

"Any sign of Ianto?"

"No, but we have found parts of a cyber conversion unit fully powered up and working."

"This is no time to be kidding around, Owen."

"I'm deadly serious. I don't know why it's here or how it got here, but it is." There was a long pause.

"Allie, you get your ass back up here now!" Uh oh, he was pissed. I was about to respond when Owen was knocked to the ground. It was a dark skinned woman, but she was half robot/naked. Owen's com went down with him. I was alone. The woman stared at me. I couldn't run, she was blocking the exit. Owen was knocked out. I held my gun up. The woman started moving. I should shoot her, but I couldn't. She looked too human. She knocked my arm to the side and my gun fell onto the floor. She shoved me down onto the operating table and a stabbing pain shot through my head.

"Do not struggle," she said. "You will be like me." Bars flew around my wrists and ankles. The table started going down, something hissed and then held my head in place. She pressed a button and knifes came out of the celling, heading for my face. I screamed, but I couldn't move any part of my body.

"Put your weapons down, put your hands up and turn and face me!" I heard Jack yell.

"Jack!" I couldn't see any of what was going on. Only that the knives were coming closer to my face.

"Switch it off!" Jack was yelling.

"I'm trying!" Was that Ianto? "Shut off the power!"

"Toshiko, cut all the power in the base!" It went dark, the knives stopped moving.

"Allie?"

"Please get me out of this thing!" I begged.

"Stand guard by the door," Jack ordered Ianto. Jack pressed something that made the table let me go. I fell forward and he caught me.

"Ow, ow, ow," I muttered, my hand flying to my head where the robot had slammed me onto the table. "Where'd she go?" Jack didn't answer me.

"Ianto, get Owen." Jack seemed really pissed at him. He helped me off the table and then lifted Owen over his shoulders. I picked up my gun that had fallen to the floor then followed Jack and Ianto back down the hallway. The robot woman appeared in the door and I jumped back.

"What is she?" I asked, hiding behind Jack. The woman wasn't making any attempt to move towards us. This time, I wasn't going to hesitate to shoot her.

"Some kind of Cyberman. They're us upgraded. Humans with emotion destroyed, created on a parallel world that supposably destroyed on this one." I understood none of what he just said, but the cyber thing was moving away.

"She's gone," Ianto muttered. Jack snatched the gun from my hand faster then I even had time to blink and cocked it at the back of Ianto's head.

"What are you doing?!" I asked, really starting to get scared.

"Resisting the urge to shoot." We came up to the main part of the hub. Jack put Owen down. "Sit and watch him," he ordered me. I didn't argue because I was afraid my knees were going to give out at any moment. I really wished Gwen was here. Jack pushed Ianto down on his knees, still holding the gun to his head.

"Hands above your head.' Tosh came towards them, her shaky hand causing her flashlight beam to fly erratically around the room. Owen started to stir next to me as the beam went over his closed eyes.

"Jack, what are you doing?!" Jack ignored her completely.

"Did you know that thing was down there?"

"I put her there," Ianto said, staring at the floor. Owen was fine, so I got up. I was afraid Jack was going to shoot Ianto, even if he did seem to be the bad guy at the moment.

"You hid a cyberman within Torchwood? And you didn't tell us? What else are you keeping from us?!"

"Like you care. I clean up your shit. No questions asked and that's the way you like it. When did you last ask me anything about my life?" He was right. Until today, I really hadn't noticed Ianto much. I knew he worked there and everything, but I never really talked to him. I was too wrapped up in trying to impress my new boss/father. I suddenly felt very selfish and cruel. Was that how Ianto saw me too?

"Her name's Lisa. She's my girlfriend." His girlfriend?! Now I was really glad I hadn't shot her, that would have been awful. Jack had to realize we couldn't hurt someone Ianto cared about so much, it just wasn't fair. This was all my fault, I shouldn't have run off by myself. If I hadn't, Lisa would still be contained in that room and we could help her.

"Why didn't you tell us, we could have helped you." Tosh said.

"Torchwood exists to destroy alien threats. Why would I tell you about her?" Owen got up, rubbing the back of his head.

"A little loyalty perhaps?"

"My loyalties to her," Ianto's voice cracked. "She worked for Torchwood. She was caught up in battle. I owe it to Lisa, we owe it to her to find a cure."

"Ianto, you have to believe me, there is no cure." Jack's voice was kinder now, but I could also hear that he was in his teacher mode. "Those who are converted stay that way. Your girlfriend will not be the exception."

"You can't know that for sure."

"You need to know what's happening here, cause this is where these things start. Small choices that become mass slaughter. These creatures regain a foothold by exploding human weakness. Then they take up base, rebuild their forces and before you know it, the cyber race is spreading out across the universe, erasing words, assimilating populations." Like a borg from Star Trek, I thought silently. "All because of the tiny beginnings here. We need to stop her. Together." Did he really expect Ianto to kill his girlfriend? Ianto rose to his feet.

"You're not listening to me. The conversion chamber was never completed."

"She already tried to kill a twelve year old girl, you think she'll stop there? There is no turning back for her now!"

"I'm not giving up on her. I love her. Can you understand that Jack? Haven't you ever loved anyone?" I couldn't picture Jack Harkness ever loving someone, or at least, not like that. But he must have sometime, after all, he had to have loved my mom. He said himself that they had a relationship.

"You need to figure out who's side you're on here. Because if you don't know, you're not gonna make it out of this alive." Jack wouldn't shoot Ianto, he was part of our team. He was just bluffing. Right?

"There's no way this weapon's door is going to open, it's going to take six hours for the power to come back on," Tosh said. There was no way I was waiting down here for six hours.

"Let me talk to her," Ianto begged. "I can still save her. Save all of us. She's not a monster." There was a loud crunching sound and I turned and saw cyberwoman staring at us.  
"Monster," I whispered. Ianto started walking forward.

"Lisa. It's me." Her head made the sound that a remote control car makes when as she turned it towards him.

"The army will rebuilt from here." Her voice echoed, it definitely sounded more robot then human. "This building is suitable." Tosh put her hand on my shoulder. Was she scared or trying to comfort me.

"Who are you?" Jack asked.

"Human point two."

"So how come you look like human point one?"

"I do not understand."  
"Well, uh, look at yourself," I muttered. The cyberwoman turned to look in a computer screen.

"The upgrade is incomplete," she said. "I am... disgusting. I have... I am... wrong. I must start again. Upgrade properly."

"For godsake, if you heard yourself!" Ianto was getting more and more nervous. "Lisa, please. I brought you here to heal you so we could be together."

Together?" She echoed. "Yes. Transplant my brain into your body." Ianto hung his head. "The two of us together. Fuzed. We'll be one complete person. Isn't that what love is?"

"No."

"Then we are not compatible." She picked him up by the throat and threw him across the hub. I screamed in shock and Jack pointed his/my gun at her. She fired some kind of electric thing into his arm and he cried out in pain.

"Code nine maneuvers, go!" The cyberwoman made a bee line for me. I froze. I didn't even have a gun this time.

"Oi, Lisa!" Owen shouted. "What are you waiting for?" She turned towards hi, and I ran to Jack. He lead me up the steps into the meeting office where Owen and Tosh met us. The cyberwoman was was coming up the stairs.

"She's coming after us!" I pointed out, since no one else seemed to be looking.

"Well, that's a surprise," Owen muttered.

"Could you be any less helpful?!"

"Oi! I just helped you escape."

"Shut up both of you!" Jack pushed me into a chair. "Okay, now this is a fight to the death. We do whatever it is necessary to destroy her. Forget what Ianto said, that thing is not human, clear?" I couldn't really disagree with him.

"What's this?" Tosh picked up a gear shaped object off the table.

"Something Suzie scavenged last year. She claimed that it can open any lock in forty five seconds."

"Suzie said that?" I asked. "How do we know it works then?" Jack pulled me back out of the chair. I wished he'd make up his mind about where he wanted me. "You, little lady, out the exit gates, up the emergency stairs to reception. Tosh, you're going with her."

"They'll never open that door without power, it weighs a ton." Owen was being unhelpful again.

"Anyway, I'm not leaving you here!" I protested.

"Just do as I say, all of you!" He addressed Tosh. "Once in reception, the panel next to the desk, pull it out. Take circuit three five seven from the main system." He handed me two white tubes. "There should be enough power in there for what we need. Once the circuit goes live, get out. Meet us by the water tower." Tosh gave him a fleeting look.

"Go!" She grabbed my hand and we spirited down the back steps to the gate. Tosh attacked Suzie's thingy to it. Jack as distracting the cyberwoman, but she electrocuted him and he went down. He was dead. Tosh wasn't moving even though the gate had opened. I remembered through my shock that she didn't know he couldn't die. I grabbed her head.

"Come on," I coxed. I knew Jack would get up, he'd be okay. He didn't look okay, but he'd be okay. I swung the gate shut behind us. We were quickly becoming the cyberwoman's next targets. Tosh put the gear on the huge concrete door. The cyberwoman was pacing right outside the gate that separated her from us, trying to figure out a way in. The gate wasn't going to hold her forever. The door hissed open and we ran through just as the cyber woman through the gate aside. There was a clear path now up the stairs to reception.

"How's the thing work?" I asked as Tosh started connecting the tubes Jack gave us to things.

"It's to complicated to explain, just know that it will give us enough power to get the others out." That was good enough for me. They had just better bring Ianto back up with them.

"Got it!" Tosh said happily. We ran outside to meet them by the water tower. They were just rising up in the lift. Before we could even reach them, Ianto punched Jack in the face.

"You could have saved her!" he shouted. "You're worse then anything locked up down there. One day, I'll have the chance to save you and I'll watch you suffer and die."

"It was the only thing that would stop her!" Jack went to charge him but Owen pulled him back. I glanced at Tosh. She smiled at me.

"When we were in reception, I managed to trick the lock down timber. The power should be coming back on any second, we could get back in!" Bad idea. Ianto ran towards the door and Jack chased after him. The five of us starting sprinting through the deserted Cardiff streets.

"Ianto stop!"

"I used my initiative, I"m sorry!"

"When I want you to think for yourself, I'll tell you!"

"Maybe if you'd told me your plan, I wouldn't have done it!" While they were all yelling at each other, I somehow managed to be the first back into the building. I'd always been a fast runner, plus I was small and able to squeeze past them.

"Ianto, stop!" I caught his arm. He whipped around and cocked his gun at my head.

"Ianto, don't be stupid," I muttered. How could he even think about shooting me?!

"I have nothing left to loose."

"There's always something left to loose." I could get to him, I knew it. This was what I was good at, getting people to do what I wanted them too.

"I'm going back in there to save her. If you try to stop me, I'll shoot." Jack came up behind me, knocked the gun out of Ianto's hand and pinned him to the wall.

"If you make a threat like that, you'd better be prepared to follow through. See? You disobey me now, I really will shoot you. You wanna go back in there? You go in to finish the job. If she's still alive, you execute her!"

"No way."

"You brought this down on us. You hid her. You hid yourself from us. Now it's time for you to stand as part of the team. The girl you love has gone. Your loyalty is to us now."

"You can't order me to do that."

"You execute her or I'll execute you both!" Tears were starting to fall from my eyes. The idea of Jack shooting Ianto was much scarer then any cyberwoman pinning me to a table.

"I won't do it. You can't make me. You like to think you're a hero, but you're the biggest monster of all." Jack looked away from him and back Owen, Tosh and me. His eyes locked with mine and he saw the tears on my cheeks. He turned back to Ianto.

"I'm giving you ten minutes. Then we're coming in." Ianto went down the stairs.

"How can you ask-" Tosh started but Jack cut her off.

"I don't need your option!" He was really scaring me. He wasn't the same person that I'd started to trust, he was angry and much meaner looking then any alien. I had wanted to think of him as a father, I had really started to believe I could have a family. But he was just like Mr. Bates, the man I'd tried so hard to get away from. Turns out, I hadn't gotten away at all.

I fidgeted as I stood in the big window in Jack's office. He was standing beside me, but we hadn't said anything. He'd called me up here and he hadn't said a word to me. Instead, we were watching Ianto entering through the hub gates. Lisa was dead, yet he was back here.

"You would never have shot him, not really." I was longing so much for him to agree with me. To tell me it had all been a bluff and he would have never really killed our team mate.

"Wouldn't I?"

"Would you have shot me if I'd gone to stand by him?

"But you didn't."

"What if I did?"

"But you didn't."

"So have you ever loved anyone that much?" He didn't answer. Clearly, he had no interest in talking to me, so why the hell had he called me up here? I made a last attempt to get something out of him. "When she had hold of you I thought, just a for a second I thought maybe you could die after all."

"Wanna know a secret?" I nodded. "So did I. And just for a second there, I felt so alive." And then he turned and walked away from me.


	5. Small Worlds

**Author note: ****I'm sorry this took so long, but my computer crashed and it deleted all of my stuff. I had to completly re-write this chapter and I'm going to try and retrieve the others ones that I wrote, so it might be a little while till I can update Countrycide. Try and stick with me and a big thank you to Rozia for the reviews! **

"Hey, are you okay?" There was a little girl with two long, blond braids walking down the road alone, still in her school uniform. She'd tripped on the sidewalk and it look like she'd torn her tights. I was suppose to be meeting Jack and Gwen at this theater place, Jack said he had something to show us and I hadn't been able to get my mind off it all day. Gwen was still extremely mad at him for what happened last week, and Iatno was walking around the place like a zombie. None of us dared to make eye contact with him. I was glad to get out of the hub for while, even if it was just to go to a theater.

The little girl turned and looked at me. She couldn't have been older then seven, much too young to be walking around the center of Cardiff alone. Granted, most people probably thought that about me as well. The girl's eyes were somehow different, she wasn't looking at me, she was looking _into _me. I smiled lightly at her, but her expression didn't change."Okay." I mouthed to myself, continued down the road. Maybe it was some kid British thing.

I saw Jack's military blue trench-coat from almost a block away. Gwen waved at me and I went over to them.

"What are we doing here?" I asked, unable to stand the suspense any longer.

"I had an invitation from an old friend," Jack told me, holding the door open. Gwen and I glanced at each other. What did Jack's old friend have to do with us and this old theater? I read the sign that said what show was playing. **Fairies. Fact or Fantasy? **I smiled. Did we get to go after alien fairies now? There was an old woman standing in the front of a dark room,. addressing a small group of adults. The lady had the iconic picture of the cousins who claimed they could see fairies like a hundred years ago up on a slide projector.

"I suppose, I'm one of the few fortunate enough to see our little friends," she was saying as we slid into the back row. Jack waved at her and she smiled back. "And it's been no easy job. One needs to have the patience of a saint and the blind faith of a prophet. But for me, the long wait has been worth while." She switched the slid and the next picture was a circle of rocks in the middle of the woods at night with a bright object floating above one of the rocks.

"This is my first picture. Not that clear, I know, but the ring of stones can be seen quite distinctly." Gwen snorted and Jack and I shushed her. "Well, of course, I'm not the world's best photographer, but this little person is just about visible. I was so lucky to have seen them. Because fairies are shy, you see." Gwen held back her laughter, but I ignored her. I liked the way this lady talked, like she could paint a picture in your mind. And the picture she had on the screen was pretty cool. "But I know in my hear that they're friendly, loving creatures." I saw Jack shaking his head and gave him a confused look, but he didn't see me. The old woman turned off the projector and the group of people started clapping quietly.

"Wrong," Jack said. "She always gets it wrong." Before I could ask him what the hell he meant by that, he walked down to where the woman was starting to put her stuff away. The group was clearing out through the front doors. Jack embraced the old woman, then he turned and looked at the slides.

"Estelle, when did you take these?"

"A couple of nights ago."

"Where?"

"In Rindstand wood."

"Not far from here,"Gwen pointed out, sitting in the front row of seats. I moved closer to get a better look at the slides.

"So good to see you again Jack," Estelle said happily. "Oh look, there's the wood." She held up a picture. Jack sighed deeply.

"What's wrong?" Gwen asked as I flipped through the sides.

"Oh, Jack and I have always disagreed about fairies. I only see the good ones, he old ever sees the bad."

"They're all bad."

"No, I refuse to believe that." I had to agree with Estelle, that ball of bright light didn't look to threatening. Plus, it was suppose to be a fairy. Like in kids books, sparkly little people in dresses that spread magic fairy dust all over the place.

"I suppose one persons good could be somebody else's evil," I pointed out.

"That's what his father use to say." His father? I had never really thought of Jack having a family. I guess I just assumed he'd appeared out of thin air. The man she was talking about, that would be my grandfather. "Oh Jack, if only you had seen them there in the wood!" Estelle said happily. She was such a cute old lady. "They were happy, they were dancing, their fairy lights were shining."

"Do you have any more photo's?" he asked her. She sighed, disappointed that he didn't share her excitement.

"Yes, at home."

"Good," he smiled warmly at her in a very un-Jack like fashion. "I need to see them all."

"Why are we looking at pictures of fairies?" I asked Gwen quietly as we walked out.

"They're not fairies, Allie," she chided.

"They look like fairies."

"Really? And have you ever seen a fairy?" She gave me a playful shrug. I climbed into the back seat of the Torchwood van, making a pouty face at her. We followed Estelle's car to a cute little house about fifteen minutes out of the city. It was just like an old lady's house should look, pretty flowers all around the edge and white trim. Estelle showed us in and the first thing I noticed was a fat black and white cat spread out over a couch.

"Hi kiddy," I said, patting his head.

"This is Moses," Estelle told me, looking at her cat fondly. She haded Jack a stack of papers. "They're mostly just pictures of the area." She picked up the cat. "Come on my darling. Quite time you went outside, isn't it?" Gwen was looking at pictures on the old lady's mantel. She picked one up and carried it over to Jack.

"This is you." The picture she was black and white and it really was Jack. He was in an army uniform. But it couldn't be Jack, that was too long ago and he was too young.

"No, that's my dad," he said. He put the picture back. "He and Estelle were quite an item at one time. They were insuperable."

"Then why did they part?" Gwen asked.

"It was war time, he was posted aboard, she volunteered to work on the land." He put another black and white photo in my hands. Estelle was much younger here, in fact I wouldn't have recognized her at all. She had long black hair and looked like she was in her early twenties. Jack's dad had his arm around her and they were both smiling.

"Cute," I said, handing it back to him. "Can I go take a look around?"

"Don't get into trouble."

"I pinky promise." I went out the back door and found Estelle in the gardens. She smiled at me as I walked over.

"If you don't mind me asking, did you know Jack's father after the war?" I wanted to know more. Jack and his father were literally identical, from the last picture I saw, there was absolutely no difference between the two.

"No, we lost touch."

"Where the three of you ever together? You, Jack and his father?" I added a smile to the end of this sentence so it didn't seem like I was questioning her.

"No, never. Jack contacted me a few years ago, I was so surmised. He's so like his dad. Same walk, same smile. I hope he's still alive. He'd be in his early nineties now."

"You could always as Jack about him."

"I have. But he doesn't seem to want to talk about his father." I ran my hands over one of the plants.

"These are very pretty."

"Oh, thank you sweetheart. Not as pretty as you." I smiled. There was something about this old woman that I really liked.

"Speaking of Jack's smile," she said thoughtfully, but she was cut off by Jack and Gwen coming out of the house.

"Estelle, when you next see these creatures, you call us immediately. Understand? Night or day, just call us. And be carful, it's important to me." We headed back to the car. "Estelle shouldn't be living in town. She belongs in the countryside.

"How often do you get to see her?" Gwen asked.

"We meet up now and again."

"How long has she been seeing fairies?" I asked.

"She calls them fairies, I don't."

"So what are they?"

"They've never really had a proper name. They're something from the dawn of time, how could you possibly put a name to that?"

"So you're saying you're scared of the little balls of light an old woman caught with the camera she bought for a pound?" I asked with a sneaky smile. I wasn't sure if these things were fairies, but they weren't the end of the world. Jack smiled back like I was an ignorant child.

"And you believe they're fairies?" he asked. "They're part of us. Part of our world, yet we know nothing about them. So we pretend to know what they look like. They give them a name and picture them with tiny little wings that are bathed in moonlight."

"But they're not?" Gwen asked, swinging her arm around my shoulders.

"No. Think dangerous, thing something you can only half see, like something out of the corner of your eye with a touch of myth, a touch of the spirt world, a touch of reality all jumbled together. Old moments and memories that are frozen and amongst it. Like derby spinning around a ringed planet spinning, turning, whirling, then backwards and forwards threw time.

"Sounds like a fairytale," I muttered.

"If that's them, we have to find them before all hell breaks loose."

"I blame it on magic mushrooms." Ianto muttered, placing a cup of coffee in front of Jack.

"What you do in private is none of our business," Jack told him and I giggled. Gwen sighed, looking at the iconic photo's Tosh had up on the screen.

"The photographs where fake."

"Houdni believed in them," I pointed out.

"He was a self publicized," she informed me.

"Well how do you know so much about it?"

"Cause I wrote an essay on it while I was in school. And when the girls were old ladies, they admitted they were fakes."

"Doesn't mean fairies aren't real," I mumbled.

"So where was this sighting, then?" Tosh asked.

"In a place called the round stone wood."

"I know it," Owen piped up. "It has an odd history. It's always stayed wild. It was considered bad luck to walk in there, even to collect timber. Even the romans stayed clear of it."

"I've had no reports of any sightings," Tosh said. She seemed to doubt the whole thing like Gwen did.

"You won't. But these things play with the weather, so set up something to monitor the weather patterns. Gwen, Owen, we're going to check out those rocks."

"Can I come?" I asked.

"No, stay here and help Tosh." I made a pouty face.

"Actually Allie, why don't you head home? Check on Rhys," Gwen told me.

"Check on Rhys? Are you kidding me? He's not even home yet."

"I agree with Gwen, take the day off Allie."

"But"-

"Allie, I mean it. Don't wander around and don't look into this. Go straight home."

An hou r later I was sitting in the library scouring through books about fairies. But everything I read was all about sparkly little people with magic dust. There wasn't a single mention about a monster from the dawn of time, or anything Jack had described.

"That's a storm going on," A woman noted, glancing out the window. "It's just in one spot, do you see it?" She was right. Where we were, it wasn't raining at all, but I could see dark clouds forming a short distance away and they were only in one spot. "Fairies?" The one asked, glancing at the book in my hand. "Aren't you a little old for fairies?" My phone started buzzing in my pocket. It was Jack. I didn't pick it up, there was no point. I took off in a spirt out the doors. Estelle's house was maybe two blocks away and there was no question in my mind anymore where that rain was coming from. Her front door was locked, so I ran around the back. I suddenly heard what sounded like little kids laughing and the rain stopped as quickly as it had started.

"Estelle?" I called out quietly, finding my way to the back of the house. I saw the outline of a person lying on the wet ground and I ran to it. I didn't have to check her pulse, I knew she was dead. heard footsteps running towards me. Owen dropped to his knees beside me.

"Looks like she died from drowning." From rain? I felt Gwen put her hand on my shoulder and Owen moved out of the way as Jack took his place. He shut Estelle's eyes and pulled her limp body into his lap. I put my hand over his.

"It wasn't your dad that was in love with her all those years ago, was it?" I asked, quietly enough so the others couldn't hear. "It was you."

"We once made a vow," he said as a tear fell down his cheek. "We'd be with each other until we died." I put my head on his shoulder. "I need a drink," he muttered, giving me a hand up. *

"Where did you and Estelle meet?"

"London. A few weeks before Christmas. She was seventeen years old and she was beautiful. I loved her at first sight. But nothing lasted back then. Promises where always being broken." He took a long gulp of his drink.

"Those peddles in the man's mouth," Gwen asked. "Where had you seen that before, was that during the war?"

"No. Long before then on a troop train. Fifteen men with me in charge. Everyone happy. Too happy. Too noisy. Then we hit a tunnel. We thought some birds had flown in threw an open window. Then came the silence. And when we came out of the tunnel, all fifteen men were dead. They'd been suffocated."

"But why were the men killed?" Gwen asked. I was starting to think these 'fairies' might not be so nice anymore. I hadn't really had time to think about the fact that old lady was dead, I was to concerned that Jack was just going to loose it at any moment and the others kept looking at me like I knew something they didn't. Even Gwen.

"About a week ago some of the men had got drunk., drove a truck through a village, ran over a child and killed her. That child was a chosen one."

"I heard kids laughing. When I went to the house, there were kids laughing in the rain." Jack got a funny look on his face.

"You heard them?" he asked. I nodded. "Did you see anything?"

"No. I just heard kids laughing. It was only for a second and then the rain stopped and I didn't hear it again."

"It's late," Jack said, his expression not changing. "I'll let you two get home."

"How as school Al?" Rhys asked as we walked up the steps.

"Good." Gwen opened the door. It looked like a storm had ripped through the entire flat. All the furniture was on it's side, pictures were smashed and there were flowers laying all over the ground.

"Bloody hell!" Rhys exclaimed. "How'd they get in? They smashed everything up, the bastards!" There was broken vase that had been smashed into six pieces. They were arranged in a circle with a another circle of sticks and red roses around it. Just like the circle of rocks. Rhys wandered into the bedroom, trying to figure out what window was smashed in order for kids to break into the place. Gwen was frozen in the doorway, staring at the window. There was a word carved into the glass, the only glass in the room that hadn't been shattered. It was my name.

"In all of my working life, I have never had to bring the bad things home with me," Gwen was rambling as she tossed sticks into a black trash bag. I hadn't really been listening to her. I was curled up on the couch with my arms wrapped around my knees and a blanket around my shoulders. Rhys had gone out to talk to the police. He'd been gone a while. "I've never had to feel threatened in my own home." Jack had just walked in the door and he was looking around at the mess that she hadn't cleaned up yet. "But not anymore. Because this means these creatures can enter my life whenever they feel like it, and I am scared Jack. What chance did Estelle have? What chance do any of us have?" Jack sat down on the couch next to me.

"You said these creatures protect their own," I muttered. "You mentioned the chosen ones. What are they?"

"Are these so called fairies were children once from different moments in time, going back millennia. Part of the lost lands?

"Lost land? What?" Gwen demanded.

"Lands that belong to them," Jack explained.

"Why are they here?" I asked.

"They want what's there's. The next chosen one."

"Me?" I asked.

"No. I don't think so. Think, Allie. Have you been around kids, any kid at all in the last couple of days?"

"There was a kid," I muttered. "Yesterday. She fell, I helped her up. She looked at me funny, like she was studying me." Jack's phone rang and I heard Tosh tell him that there was another weird weather thing going on at the local elementary school.

"This kid," Jack said, heading for the door as Gwen and I followed after him. "What did she look like?"

"I don't know, blond hair in braids, maybe seven, eight years old?"

"We'll find her," Jack told me.

"I've never seen anything like it," A teacher was telling us. "It just started."

"Was anyone hurt?" Owen asked.

"No. Two children were almost scared to death, but they're okay. And there was little Jasmine amongst it all. She hadn't been touched. The sun was shining down on her. Like something protecting her."

"Who's Jasmine?" Jack asked.

"Jasmine Pierce. She's a pupil of mine."

"Blond hair in braids?" I asked quietly.

"Yes," the teacher answered with a shocked look on her face.

"Where is she now?"

"We're sending all the children home." Tosh was already on it, looking up the girls name and finding her address.

"And what do we do when we find the kid?" I asked Jack as I climbed in the back of the van. He didn't answer me. We drove up to a little house in a neighborhood that wasn't too different from Estelle's. There seemed to be a storm going on. There were people running all around the backyard and they had a good reason too. There huge, bald things with wings chasing them into the woods. One of them was tackling a man to the ground as Owen ushered everybody else out the front gate.

"Roy!" A woman shouted but Tosh held her back. Then I saw her. The little girl. She smiling at the creatures, going through a hole in the fence and running away. I took off after her.

"Jasmine!" I called to catch her attention. She turned around and looked at me. She almost looked like a normal little girl, even though I knew she wasn't. She frowned at me. "Jasmine, come back with me," I pleaded.

"Do you know you walk in the forest? It looks like a very old forest, and it's magical. I want to stay in it."

"But there is no forest," I pointed out. We were standing on an empty hill. "The forest is gone. Your friends are just playing a game with you." I heard wings fluttering as I took another step towards her, holding out my hand.

"They want you," she said, not flinching. "We can go together. The forest can come back when they take us to it."

"Why do they want me?" I asked.

"Because you're special."

"What about your mother, don't you want to stay with her?" There was a thump in the trees and two of the winged things were staring at me. One of them started to fly forward.

"Leave her alone!" Jack came up behind me, pushing me behind him. "Find another chosen one."

"The child belongs with us," said the creature in a voice that seemed to echo through the field.

"The child belongs here!"

"No!" The creatures hissed in unison. "She lives forever."

"But you already have a chosen one!" Jack pleaded, gesturing at Jasmine.

"Jack, what are you doing?!" I demanded, grabbing the girl's hand.

"Suppose I make her stay with me," Jack said.

"Then lots more people will die," Jasmine answered. "Like that man at my school, like they killed Roy, and you're friend. If they want to, they can make great storms, wild seas, turn the world to ice. Kill every living thing." She looked at me. "Is that what you want?"

"And if I do go?" I asked her. I turned and look at the creatures. "If I go with you, you won't hurt my friends?"

"Allie, no!" Jack snapped, pulling me behind him again. "You can take the child, but you can't take mine!"

"We told you, she lives forever," the creatures hissed. Jack got a strange look on his face.

"It's one or the other," he realized. He knelled so he was at Jasmine's height. "What good is this to you? There will be no more chosen ones!"

"They'll find us, back in time." She spoke with the creatures in the same echoing voice. Jack glanced back at me, then pushed Jasmine forward.

"Take her."

"Jack, no!" I tried to run after her, but he caught me around the waist. "You asked me what chance we had against them, for the sake of your life, _this _is our only chance!" Jasmine turned and smiled at me.

"Thank you." Then she disappeared.

"Jas!" A woman shouted. The rest of the team was behind her. She ran towards where her daughter had disappeared. Then turned and sobbing ran at Jack. He caught her arms as she tried to hit him. She started screaming her daughter's name. I started sobbing into Gwen's shoulder.

"I am so sorry," I heard Jack say, but I wasn't sure if it was to the grieving mother, or to me.


	6. Countrycide

**I finally got this back! Thanks for waiting, I know it took forever. I'll be able to update a lot faster now. **

"I hate the countryside. Dirty, it's unhygienic. And what is that smell?"

"Grass," Gwen said.

"A lack of global warming?" I added.

"It's disgusting," Owen said, looking back at us. "I'm hungry." Jack pulled over at a food cart that was literally in the middle of nowhere. It was pretty here though. There were mountains everywhere and the grass was certainly greener then in the city.

"Seventeen disappearances in the past five months," Jack said as we all get out. "The police are clueless-"

"Well there's a surprise," Owen muttered under his breath. "No offense, PC Cooper." Was he flirting with her? Gross. I joined Jack and Tosh who were looking at a map spread out on the hood of the van. I jumped up beside it, not wanting to sit on the frozen ground.

"The last three disappearances were somewhere around here," Jack said, pointing to a spot on the map.

"All within a twenty mile radius," Tosh noted.

"Anything else linking them?" Gwen asked.

"None of the body's have ever been found, these people just fell of the radar," Jack told her. "No patterns in age, sex, race. One minute they're here, the next poof. Gone."

"The rift doesn't spread out this far, does it?" I asked, smiling slightly when I saw Owen shivering a short distance from us.

"We don't know enough about it be certain," Jack answered. "And it's increasing in activity all the time."

"Aw, come on!" Owen sighed. "Aliens aren't going to bother hanging around out here! Probably some weird suicide club with people choosing the same spot to end it all. God knows, if I had to spend to long out here, I'd want to top myself." That poor man in the food truck. He must see a lot of strange things out here, but we might win for the day. Ianto came over with burgers.

"Sure you don't want anything Tosh?" he asked.

"Really sure. Friend of mine caught hepatitis off a burger from one of these places."

"Ha ha," I jeered at Gwen and Ianto, who had already taken bites out of there's.

"We'll start with the most recent victim, Ellie Johnson." Jack got right back to business. "We last have record of her making a phone call. She dropped out of signal mid call, the coverage map has her placed somewhere about here." He pointed on the map. "Looks as good a place as any to set up camp." "What's the matter with a hotel?" Owen demanded as he helped Jack unload a tent from the van. "People are going missing around here. Do you really want to stay in a place run by strangers?" "Oh. Cause staying outside's gonna be a lot safer."

"No other race in the universe goes camping. Celebrate your own uniqueness." He dumped the tent on the ground and then joined me where I was sitting on the edge of the open trunk.

"What am I suppose to do with this?!" Owen asked, annoyed.

"You could start by opening it," I suggested and Jack laughed.

"Try not to piss him off anymore."

"But it's so fun," I complained. Jack looked at something over my shoulder in the woods. I looked too, but I didn't see anything.

"Don't go off alone," he told me, getting up and going around the van before I could ask him why. I hated when he did that. I watched Owen trying to put up his tent for a while, then got bored. "Let's play a game," I suggested. "Who's the last person you all kissed?" "We're not twelve year old girls," Owen shot at me. I glared back.

"Aw, come on, it's just a bit of fun," Gwen said coming to my defense. "Who's the last person you snogged?"

"You even sound like an twelve year old, who the hell says snog?" Owen demanded.

"Mine was Rhys," she said, unfazed. "Tosh, your go."

"It's easy for you," she muttered.

"Please?" I asked, joining them on the uncomfortable camp chairs and making a pouty face at her.

"Owen," she announced.

"Really?" I asked. Who would kiss Owen?

"Tosh, in your dreams," Owen sighed. At least he was embarrassed, that was a plus.

" Christmas Eve in front of the millennium center waiting for a cab under mistletoe. So who was yours?" Tosh asked him. I grabbed a bottle of water. A sly smile came over his face.

"Gwen," he said cockily. I choked.

"When was this?" Tosh asked, seeming a little jealous. Why was everyone kissing Owen?

"It was complicated," Gwen muttered. Owen was still smiling. Why would Gwen kiss Owen?! "Didn't take you long to get your feet under the table," Tosh muttered. My game was not turning out to well.

"So was it just a kiss, or?" I asked, trying to relive some tension before it came to blows.

"Uh, Allie," Gwen muttered. "Leave it." I held my hands up in surrender.

"Fine, Jack's turn. Who's the last person you kissed, Jack?"

"Are we including non human life forms?" he asked.

"You're a sick man," Owen sighed. I started laughing and Gwen made a face.

"It's my turn, is it?" Ianto asked. He'd been very quite. I suddenly realized where this was going and what a bad idea my game had been. "It was Lisa." Everyone stopped smiling and I really wanted to sink into my bench and disappear forever.

"Ianto, I'm sorry," I mumbled.

"Sorry she's dead, or sorry you mentioned it?" I bit my lip. "You forget." He smiled slightly. I am a despicable human being.

"We should get some firewood." Owen broke the silence. Gwen offered to go with him. I felt horrible. But then again, thinking about Gwen killing Owen in the woods for mentioning the kiss made me feel a little better. I got up, wandering behind the van. Then I saw the outline of a person in the woods, watching me. As soon as I focused my eyes, it disappeared. I considered going back to tell the others, but whoever it was would be long gone by then. I took off into the woods after it. I didn't see the man again, but something white caught my eye. There was a dirty blanket on the ground and there was something under it. I gulped, and then hesitantly raised the cloth. There was a body that was completely stripped off all it's skin so that it was just a bloody mass of bone and mussel. It was like the feeling I got when I saw a really bit spider, only times ten. I screamed, backing up so fast I tripped and fell against a tree. I heard footsteps running towards me.

"Allie!" I heard Jack yell. "Oh my god," Tosh gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. Jack yanked me up.

"What did I say?!" he demanded.

"I, I saw someone," I stammered. His face softened.

Are you alright?" I nodded. Gwen and Owen ran up to us. Owen knell d beside the body and Gwen came over to check on me, so Jack walked away. I didn't like that he was mad at me, but I probably should have listened.

"Well, it's not Ellie Johnson, that's for sure," Owen determined. "This is a male, late forty's, fifties. Wasn't killed here. No blood spatter or signs of struggle. Must have been brought here after he died.

""Why do that?" Gwen asked. "It's not like they tried to bury him."

Maybe Al disturbed him and he ran away?" Tosh suggested. It made me shiver to think that whoever did this may have been watching me.

"Cause of death?" Jack asked.

"Impossible to say. Body's been stripped of the flesh and organs, so all that's left is a carcass." I looked back down at it and saw a worm wiggling around on the head. I winced and looked away. Then I heard a car engine fire up.

"Is that ours?" Gwen asked. We all took off back towards camp. The van was speeding away back down the road.

"Alright," I muttered. "Now I'm scared."

"I may have left the keys in the car," Owen muttered. "What? I'm sorry!"

"You left the keys in the car?" Jack asked, trying to grasp it. Owen and Tosh started bickering. "Jack?" I asked. He turned to look at me. "Maybe that body wasn't just there. Maybe it was a distraction. Maybe that guy I saw dumbed it there on purpose." I saw in his face that he thought I was right. But that would mean we were watched we arrived."

"Tosh, can you get a tracking signal?" Jack asked.

"Already done," Ianto held it up. "The car's already 3.4 miles west of here. It's parked."

"There's a small village in that area," Gwen said, looking at the map. "Other then that, nothing for thirty miles."

"Call me suspicious, but this all the hallmarks of a trap," Tosh pointed out.

"Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing," Jack said . "Anyone fancy a walk?"

The village was tiny, only a few buildings surrendered by an old rock wall. There were bits of derby everywhere, a few stray tires, pieces of metal. But our van was nowhere insight. Jack told Tosh and Ianto to follow the signal and find it. Owen, Gwen, Jack and I went to explore. I was staying really close to Gwen's side as we walked into a small inn. It was dark and distorted, the future still in place, but it was like a ghost town.

"Where is everybody?" Gwen asked. I kept my flashlight in front of me whenever I saw movement out of the corner of my eye that turned out to be rats. I did not like this at all. There were bugs on the old stove, curtains still hanging in the window. Wait, bugs? Why where there bugs, it was too cold for bugs. I looked down and right in front of my feet, was the bloody body of a little girl. Her face was unrecognizable, she didn't even look human.

"Gwen," I muttered. She looked over my shoulder. Then she put her hand over my eyes, dragging me back. She put her hands up in front of her, closing her eyes like she was going to puke. The guys came in and Gwen just pointed to the corner. My head was spinning painfully, I was starting to smell it the body, the smell of death. I heard Owen mutter something like oh my god. Jack grabbed me around my waist, practically dragging me out of the pub.

"Gwen!" he called. The air got rid of the nausea in my stomach, but Gwen was still wicked pale. I was just really, really scared. I tired to arrest the image from my head. "Let's take a look in here," Jack suggested. "Stay here, Allie."

"No arguments there." Gwen yanked the door open, going gun first into the house. It wasn't long till they came back out. I was starting to wonder where Owen was.

"Is the whole village dead like that?" I asked.

"I don't know kid," Jack sighed. "Why don't you wait outside from now on?" I nodded. I didn't know if I could handle seeing another body. I just wanted Ianto and Tosh to come with the van so we could go back home. Gwen took my hand as we walked to the next house. She went up to the door, opening it with the gun in front of her. A shot suddenly ran out and Gwen fell backwards. I screamed.

" Gwen!" Jack yelled. I dropped to my knee's next to her. She was gasping for air. Jack went into the house to confront the shooter. "Put the gun down on the floor!" I heard him shout as the door slammed shut.

"Gwen," I said, my hands hovering over her.

"Gwen!" Owen was running towards us. Jack came back out, picking her up.

"Some kid hit her with a shotgun," Jack said. "Let's get her inside." Owen opened the door, knocking everything off a kitchen table and Jack laid her on it. There was a boy, a few years older then me, standing stunned in the doorway. Doctor Owen was leaning over Gwen.

"Let's go check upstairs," Jack told me. I made a sound of protest, wanting to stay with Gwen, but he grabbed my arm. The boy glanced at us as we passed. I froze at the top of the stairs. "Allie," Jack said.

"I can't-" I muttered, holding my hands up in front of me. My head was literally spinning, everything was blurry.

"Al," Jack said lightly, putting his hand on my shoulder. " I need you to stay with me here."

"But what's killing all those people?" I asked, sitting down on a bed that released a cloud of dust when I did.

"I don't know," he said, knelling in front of me. "But I need you to hold it together. Can you do that?"

"I don't know."

"I'm going to push you for a better answer then that." He moved a piece of hair behind my ear. "I'm going to get us out of this, I promise. Just trust me. Okay?"I met his eyes and managed to nod. He took my hand and we went back down. Gwen looked better, her face was less pale and she looked at me and smiled.

"I'm alright Al." She sat up and I went over and leaned my head on her shoulder.

"What's taking Tosh and Ianto so long?" Jack demanded.

"Jack, give them a chance. The RV might be locked up or under guard." Wow. Owen actually wasn't being an asshole for once.

"Or they might be dead!" The boy pointed out. I'd forgotten about him. He'd shot Gwen! Then again, he seemed pretty scared.

"Sit down," Jack ordered him. "Tell us what happened here."

"It's not human!" The boy told him. "My mum won't know what's happened here, they only sent me away for the weekend!"

"We'll get you home." I assured him.

"What are you gonna do?! You can't fight them, they're too strong!" I walked away from Gwen and Owen and over to Jack and the boy.

"Hey," I said, squatting so I was at eye level with him. "Calm down, we'll protect you." He seemed to believe me, because he shut up.

"We'll make base at the pub," Jack announced. The place with the kids body? Didn't seem like the best idea to me."

What about Tosh and Ianto?" Owen asked. "Should we go after them?"

"They're not children, they know what to do." Jack said sharply. "Let's go." He went to get Gwen, but Owen stopped him. He helped her to stand and she walked on her own. She really was alright then. I offered my hand to the boy and helped him up.

"I'm sorry about your friends," he muttered as we followed Jack out, Gwen and Owen behind us.

"Thanks," I said. This boy still wasn't my best friend, he had shot Gwen. "What's your name?"

"Kieran."

"I'm Allie." He actually smiled slightly, taking my hand. We went into the pub and Owen and Jack started squabbling about barracking ourselves in and how Tosh and Ianto would be trapped outside. Gwen was writing things on the backboard, I assumed to calm herself down. I was sitting in a bar booth next to the boy who was lying down, asleep. Something moved past the window and I jumped up. Jack pointed his gun towards it. Something moved by the other window and I walked over to the others.

"He said they'd come back," I whispered.

"Let's not jump to conclusions," Jack told me. Then the lights went out.

"I'm thinking that's not a good sign," Owen muttered.

"You think?" I asked. The doorknob jiggled and Jack put his arm around me. Our barricade of chairs seemed to hold it back. The boy woke up, clutching his gun.

"They've come back!" he panicked.

"Kieran, come over here," I muttered. The jiggling stopped. The basement door handle started twisting, but the lock stopped it. My whole body was shaking.

"Okay," Jack said. "So we didn't check the cellar." He stood against it to keep it from opening. The chair started toppling down and Kieran started shooting. Glasses were breaking and Kieran started shouting. Owen dragged me down under the table, and Gwen's arms came around me as I covered my ears. Then I saw Kieran shooting across the floor.

"Kieran!" I screamed, running to go after him. Jack caught me around my waist. "Allie, it's pitch black and you don't have any tracking devices, haven't we gone over you going off on your own?!" I tried to pull away from him, those things would kill him!

"Let me go!"

"Look, whatever's in that cellar took three bullets, I heard it fall. Once we know how it is, then we'll know how to deal with it."

"You do that, Owen and I will go after Kieran and the others!" I argued.

"Allie, stop!" Gwen pleaded.

"You're twelve years old and you don't even know how to shoot a gun, now you better start listening to me, because I'm in charge here and you're going to get yourself killed!" Jack shouted. "Owen, Gwen, go after them. You, you're staying with me."

"You know what Jack, go to hell!" I snapped. I was shaking I was so mad. Gwen squeezed my hand before following Owen out.

"We're checking out the cellar, stay behind me," Jack ordered. He kept his gun out in front of me. I shone the flashlight on a shelf of jars. The jars had something that looked like brains in them. I closed my eyes for a second.

"There's blood on the floor," I muttered. Jack suddenly leaped forward. There was a man huddled in the corner.

"Help me," he begged. "Please help."

"Did you attack us?" Jack demanded.

"I'm dying, help me!" he sobbed. "I'll tell you everything, please." Jack picked him up roughly, shoving him against a broken door leaning against the wall. He tied a cloth around the top of his leg where the gun wounds were.

"This well help you for a short amount of time, now start talking."

"You can't help," the man muttered. Jack slapped him.

"Allie, keep that flashlight up!" he ordered. I hadn't realized my hands had been shaking so much that it was now pointing at the floor. "We had a deal. I helped you, now you tell me where they've taken the boy and the others." The man started laughing.

"You don't know." He laughed again. Jack grabbed a knife from the man's boot. "What are you doing, put it back."

"You need to know something," Jack told the man who was no longer laughing. "A long time ago, I was pretty good at torture. So I know exactly where to ably the slightest bit of pressure to a wound like yours." The man started screaming.

"Stop, you're gonna kill me!"

"It's in your power to make me stop," Jack told him. "Just tell me what I need to know. Cause in ten seconds, I'm gonna find a sharp object."

"You gonna let him hurt me, little girl?" the man's eyes turned to me. Then he screamed as Jack pressed down on his leg.

"Allie, give me the flashlight." I hesitated. "Give it to me now! Go back upstairs and wait for me, do not leave this building." I was honestly to scared to argue, so I did, then walked back up the stairs in the dark. I sat down on one of the tables, feeling tears starting to spill down my face. Then something grabbed me. I tried to scream, but a hand covered my mouth. My feet were lifted off the ground as someone threw me over their shoulder. I struggled to get away, but whoever this person was, he was huge. I kicked as hard as I could and I heard a man grunt, then I fell, falling into a pile of leaves. His face was illuminated by a flashlight, his eyes furious. I rolled away from him, kicking again so that he dropped the flashlight somewhere in the leaves. Then I ran like hell. I could hear him following me, and I ducked behind a fallen tree. The flashlight went right over me

."I know you're here," the man's voice said. More footsteps on wet leaves. He made a sound like he was calling a dog. I could see the outline of his muddy boots. He had a hug sword in his hand. Then I heard him laugh, walking away from me. I got up slowly, starting to run again and then he grabbed me. I screamed as he threw me to the ground.

"Jack!" I screamed, my eyes blinded by tears. He laughed.

"No one's coming for you princess." I kicked him between the legs and he grunted, bending over in pain. I ran again, ducking behind a tree, trying not to even breath. I saw the flashlight coming for me again as I took off running, his footsteps following. He was laughing, I could hear the sword slicing through branches. I tripped over a branch and screamed as he put his foot on my back, pinning me down. "No more games." He flipped me over, putting the knife against my throat.

"Get off her, or I'll shoot," Owen said. The man just laughed. Owen kicked him and he rolled off of me. Gwen wrapped her arms around me and I started sobbing into her shoulder.

It's alright, you're safe. They're gonna arrest him now," she told me. "I said you can arrest him!" There was a cop behind her and Owen was pinning the man to the ground. The cop wasn't moving.

"He's not gonna arrest me!" the man laughed and then the cop started laughing too, drawing a gun on Owen.

They pushed us into a room where a lady was laughing. They'd bound all of our hands. Tosh was standing against the wall, her hands were bound too. There were at least four other people who looked perfectly at ease. The man and the fake cop kept guns on us.

"What is this?" Gwen demanded.

"This is our village!" The hag like woman told her.

"The villagers are dead!"

"This is our harvest," the man said.

"Only in the bloody countryside, you sick fuckers," Owen told them. The man grabbed us, dragging us into another room. He threw me on the floor and I landed on a body.

"Kieran!" I cried. He was unconscious.

"Where's Ianto?!" Gwen demanded. "What have you done with him?!" The man picked up another body with a bag on his head. He took it off and relived a gagged Ianto. The man slapped him and he woke up.

"Time to be bled." He picked up a saw. "Don't worry, it takes a long time, but it makes the meat taste better." The room started to shake and a tracker suddenly came barreling through the door. Jack burst in, gun blazing and the cannibal people shot back at him. I covered my head and Kieran's staying close the floor as the gun's fired around me. When it stopped, I looked up. Jack grabbed the man and pushed a gun against his throat.

"No Jack!" Gwen shouted. "Don't do it!"

"These people don't deserve warnings!

"Let me question him. I have to understand, I have to know why, otherwise, this is to much." Owen wrapped his arms around me and the world just went black.

I sat with my head in my hands, a dirty blanket around my shoulders. I waited for Gwen and Jack to come out of the room. Owen, Ianto and Tosh were taking care of the other people they had found, also being kept captive. I just wanted to go home. Jack came up behind me. I held my arms out. He scooped me up and I secured my arms tightly around his neck. He kissed my head. "Let's go home."


	7. They Keep Killing Suzie

**Yey, new chapter. I think I'm going to start skipping some of the episodes that aren't important, or are just boring lol. And ps, to anyone who's seen this episode, am I the only one who notices that Gwen looks really creepy when she's dying in the car?! It actually scared me a little. **

I was on lockdown. Lockdown meaning I didn't get to go anywhere and I didn't get to do anything and it was totally unfair. When we got back, Jack basically fired me. I was suppose to lay low, be a normal kid. Well, I wasn't a normal kid and I didn't want to be if it meant I had to sit in a classroom for eight hours. It had gone from hunting aliens, to being targeted by perky blond girls. I was still trying to decide which was more dangerous.I'd been the new kid before, I knew how this game went and I knew the rules. Just sit quietly in the back, don't raise your hand in class and don't even think about talking to anybody.

"In what year did Andrew Jackson become president?" The teacher asked, pacing in front of the whiteboard. No one in the classroom moved. I picked up my pencil and wrote 'March 4, 1829' On my paper. "Anyone? No one?" He looked right at me when he said it. The bell rung and I quickly grabbed my bag and headed for the door.

"Allie, stay a second." I cursed loudly in my head. The teacher waited until the rest of the kids had left the classroom. "What did you write in your notebook?" he asked me.

"I was just doodling," I lied. He looked at my thoughtfully.

"Can I see?" It wasn't a question, so I gave him the notebook. He looked at it and smiled lightly. "That's right," he said, handing it back to me. "Andrew Jackson because president on March 4, 1829. Why didn't you raise your hand?" I shrugged. I was trying to do anything possible to get out of this room. I didn't even remember this man's name, I didn't really feel like having a heart to heart with him. The teacher leaned forward across his desk, reminding me briefly of Jack.

"Allie, I've been a teacher longer then you've been alive. I know a smart child when I see one." He patted my arm and I sensed I was dismissed, so I hurried out into the swarm of students that filled the hallways. Before I had taken two steps, I heard the jeering voice of the person I tried most to avoid.

"Hey! New girl!" It was Amanda Vines, the leader of the perky blond girls. She had her three minions closely behind her. "Nice bracelet, can I have it?" She was pointing to the bracelet made of beads that I'd pieced together when I was bored. I probably would have given it to her, but she wasted no time in ripping it off my wrist so hard that it broke and the beads scattered all over the floor. Her minions started laughing like it was the funniest thing ever.

"Aw, I broke it," she said, sticking her bottom lip out. "You gonna cry new girl?"

"That would make your day, wouldn't it?" I muttered as I turned to walk away. But Amanda wasn't having any of that. She grabbed my shoulder and spun me around so fast that all my books joined the shattered remains of my bracelet.

"Oops. You'd better pick those up," she said grinning. I leaned down to grab them and as I did, I felt something wet hit my head. I stood up and realized she'd dumbed the mug of whatever she was drinking all over me. "I am just so klutzy today!" I didn't even have time to blink before my hand was making contact with her face.

"Seriously? One week, all I asked was that you lasted one week that school and you couldn't even do that?" I was trying really hard to sink into the seat of Gwen's car.

"I'm sorry," I muttered.

"Tell that to the girl you assaulted." Assaulted. That was the word the principle was using as he suspended me. Gwen sighed deeply. "Did she deserve it?" I grinned.

"Definitely. So how are things going at work?" As soon as I said it, her phone buzzed and she answered it.

"Hello? Yeah, she's fine, just a little mix up."

"Is that Owen?" I asked. "Your voice changes when you talk to Owen." She put the phone between her ear and her shoulder, steering with one hand.

"What?"

"Well, it does. Did you think I wouldn't notice? I do live with you." I glanced awkwardly out the window. I didn't really care what Gwen did, it was none of my business. But if she was gonna cheat on a nice guy like Rhys, why would she do it with Owen?

"Yes, I'm still here. I'll be right there, I just have to drop Allie off first. Are you joking? Alright, I'm coming now." She hung up.

"What's going on?"

"Jack Harkness has goddamn mind, that's what's going on." She was driving so fast that I was getting anxious. "Yesterday we were called on a case where there where two dead bodies and the word 'Torchwood was written in their blood on the wall."

"Seriously?"

"We brought one them back with Suzie's glove."

"The one that resurrects people?"

"I was the only one who could get it to work and for no more then a minute. We asked him about the person who killed him and his wife. He told us it was a man who went to something called Pilgrim. Tosh found out that it's some sort of religious support group. He said the man's name was Max. The only other thing he gave us before he was gone again was that there was a woman who knew Max better. A woman named Suzie." I got butterflies in my stomach.

"Does Jack want to bring her back?" I asked.

"I should really bring you home."

"I want to help Gwen," I begged. She sighed.

"How would you help, Al?"

"Maybe I could get the glove to work longer?"

"See, this is exactly why I should bring you home."

"But I made friends with Suzie before she tried to shoot me. There has to be something I can do! If you bring me home now, I will never forgive you."

"You'll get over it." But as she said it, she was turning toward town. Now I just had to make sure she didn't regret it.

"Do you freeze all the Torchwood staff when they die?" I asked, glancing at the frozen body of Suzie Costello on the autopsy table.

"Rules and regulations," Jack told me. He still didn't seem at all happy by the fact I was here. He was just lucky I was keeping my distance, Gwen didn't look at all happy to have that glove on. I remembered how Suzie had brought that fly back to life in Jack's office. It seemed so long ago. Gwen was pressing the glove to Suzie's head. She gasped as soon as the glove touched the corpse's hair.

"I'm getting a reading," Owen said, pointing to the blips on his computer screen. "Nope, it's gone." Gwen gasped again and pulled her hand back. I glanced at her anxiously.

"Just memories," she assured me.

"What do we do now?" I asked.

"Nothing we can do," Jack answered. "We're out of options."

"Can I try?"

"No." Gwen and Jack said in unison.

"But you said you were out of options."

"You putting on that glove isn't one of them," Jack snapped.

"Jack, she's right," Owen muttered. "We're out of options. She's here, might as well let the kid try." Did Owen just defend me? I looked up at Jack innocently.

"Fine!" He shoved the glove at me. "But don't blame me if you have nightmares."

"Jack"- Gwen started to protest, but Jack cut her off.

"You did and it didn't hurt you. We need to know who killed those people." I put the glove on. It was really cold, like it had been kept in a bucket of ice water.

"So how do I do it?" I asked.

"It requires empathy," Jack told me. "Just be yourself." I rolled my eyes at him and put the glove on Suzie's head. The glove instantly heated up to the point where it was burning my hand. I felt a surge of energy fly up my arm to my heart. I saw images flashing in front of eyes. At first, I saw her standing by the fountain pointing the gun at my head. But then I saw her in Jack's office handing me a drink, how I'd opened up to her about my past. Then I heard Suzie gasp.

"Suzie, stay with me," Jack said. "Suzie, Suzie, look at me!"

"Jack," she gasped. "The glove, who's using the glove?! Did you kill me?"

"No, you killed yourself, remember?"

"Oh my god, I shot myself!"

"We need to ask you about Pilgrim." It wasn't just my hand that was burning now, it was my whole body. And it was like I could feel her panic and her fear. My heart was beating so fast I was surprised it didn't beat out of my chest.

"No, wait, didn't I kill you?"

"Never mind that, we need names and details."

"Who's using the glove?"

"I'm sorry," I muttered.

"Wouldn't you know it, it's the stupid kid!" I heard a blip from the computer as I lost a bit of my empathy.

"Thirty seconds," Ianto said. Jack continued questioning her.

"When you were in Pilgrim, you gave the amnesia pill to a man, Max, do you remember?"

"What? You brought me all the way back just for Max?!"

"We need to find him. What's his surname?"

"He was just-" Suzie's eyes started closing and the computer started beeping wildly.

"Allie, don't force it!" Jack told me. But I couldn't let her go now. I'd convinced Gwen to bring me here, convinced them to let me use the glove, I wasn't going to fail now! An electric charge shot up my arm and the glove fell off my hand. I got so dizzy that I fell against the wall.

"I told you to stop!" Jack said, frustration filling his voice.

"I told you this was a bad idea!" Gwen yelled at him, trying to help me up, but my legs weren't working right.

"She's alright," Owen said, checking my pulse. "We need to get her out of here though. Jack, can you come and give me a hand?"

"It's the glove!" Jack was really pissed. "I told you, they get hocked!" I tried to bit back my tears, but it didn't work.

"Alright, don't make a fuss," Owen told him. "It's over now." What had got into Owen? I thought he hated me and I hated him and I was perfectly fine with that.

"Um, excuse me, I'm still counting." Ianto informed us. "According to the acquitment, she's just unconscious." Owen rushed over to the computer.

"Oh my god, he's right. She's alive. Suzie's alive, look at her, she's bloody breathing!"

"Look up," Owen ordered me, shinning his blue light thing in my eyes. I'd already told him twice I felt fine now. Physically at least. Gwen was standing against the wall with her arms crossed, watching us. I wanted more then anything to be able to get off the autopsy table Suzie had been on only moments before. Jack had taken her somewhere, I didn't know where. Gwen and Owen were to busy fussing over me.

"You know, I know you're only being nice to me because you and Gwen"-

"Allie!" Gwen snapped before I could get the sentence out.

"What?! It's true." Owen looked back at her.

"Get down, I'm taking you home," she ordered me.

"No way. I'm not going to go sit in a history classroom while you guys get to play with half dead Suzie."

"This is not a game." She grabbed my arm roughly and started practically dragging me toward the door.

"I'm not going!" I said, pulling my arm back, feeling like a five year old throwing a tantrum. "You can't make me."

"Well, I can." Owen threw me over his shoulder.

"Put me down!" I screamed. "Owen, put me down!"

"What the hell is going on?!" Jack barged into the room. "Owen, put her down!" Owen dropped me and I ran to Jack, throwing my arms around his waist.

"Please don't make me leave!" I begged. "I'm sorry I messed up, I didn't mean to bring her back to life, don't make me leave again."

"Hey, no one's going anywhere." He told me comfortingly. "You're a part of this team now." He turned and looked at Gwen and Owen. "And we'll all have to get use to that."

"Jack, can I talk to you alone?" Gwen asked. They walked up to his office.

"You were totally playing him, weren't you?" Owen demanded.

"Duh, I could have easily kicked you hard enough to make you drop me. I just wanted Jack to come and save me."

There was bumping music coming from the computer that Tosh, Suzie and I were sitting around watching surveillance of The Wolf Bar. Jack, Owen and Gwen had gone there to see if they could find crazy Max's next victim, so Tosh and I got to babysit Suzie.

"Bloody hell," I heard Gwen mutter. "Like I didn't have a pounding headache already."

"That's the glove, Gwen," Suzie said cryptically from her wheelchair. "It gets inside your mind. Is it effecting you yet, Allie?"

"Yeah, all right, Suzie stop creeping her out," Gwen said. "Is there any sign of Max or Lucy Mackenzie?"

"Nothing yet, keep moving around. You can't even look at me can you?" She asked Tosh. "It's not like you to be so judgmental."

"No offence Suzie, but you look like crap, I don't really want to look at you either," I said, coming to Tosh's defense."

"Cleaver," Suzie jeered at me.

"I've got a match on that guy," Owen's voice said. "Northwest bar."

"Show me," Suzie ordered. "Owen, get in closer, which one do you mean?"

"Hang on, I've got a match on our girl."

"That's her, that's definitely her." Owen tacked the guy to the ground before he could get near the blond girl they'd been talking about.

"That isn't him," Suzie said. I saw a huge guy behind Gwen and he had a knife aimed right at her back.

"Gwen, look out!" I said and she whipped around just in time to get out of the way. "See? I can be useful."

"Can't you ask Jack?" Suzie begged. "Just one favor, I want to see my father." The other's still weren't back yet and Suzie seemed to be under the assumption that Jack would let her out.

"Maybe if you tell me where he is, we could bring him in?" I suggested offhandedly.

"I'm not letting him anywhere near Torchwood. If he's still alive."

"Is he sick?" I asked.

"He has cancer. All that waiting and then I go and die first." I actually felt kind of bad for her. She seemed so sad about her dad. "So tell me, since I've been gone, are you enjoying it?"

"Yes," I said instantly, then realized how crazy I sounded. "I mean, it kind of grows on you."

"Best job I ever had," Suzie said, smiling. "And the worst. The funny thing is, you always imagine when you're dead, 'oh, they're gonna miss me at work.' But I got replaced by someone better."

"Gwen? She's no better then you."

"I didn't mean Gwen. I meant you. You got that glove working better than I did.

"I just got lucky," I muttered, feeling kind of awkward.

"No, it's more then that. The others, they prefer you."

"That is totally not true. Owen hates me, Tosh thinks I'm annoying as hell, Ianto doesn't talk to anyone anymore since we shot his robot girlfriend and Gwen doesn't even want me to be here."

"What about Jack?"

"He doesn't count, he's the boss." She laughed.

"No, I suppose Jack never counts."

I pushed open the door to Jack's office without knocking, I practically slammed the door open. I thought I hated Suzie, but then I'd brought her back to life and I'd had sympathy for her while I was doing it. And talking to her had made me see then she was more then just some crazed killer. She was actually a person with feelings and a life outside of Torchwood. But of course, Jack had never seen that. He never saw anything that didn't effect him.

"I had a boyfriend who use to walk into rooms like that," he told me. "The grand entrance. It got kind of boring. Though, he was one of twins, so I put up with it. Twin acrobats. Man, I've gotta write that book. Maybe even illustrate it. You know, I can talk for a long time, a very long time."

"You put Suzie in charge of the glove, she worked for you. But in all that time you spent with her, did you ever once think to ask her about her life?"

"What are you going on about?" Jack asked, leaning lazily back in chair.

"Her father has cancer. He's been dying slowly for years and what do you do? You give his daughter the one device that brings people back to life. No wonder she got obsessed, Jack!"

"Oh, so this is all my fault?"

"Well, kinda. Did you ever look at Suzie and think what that thing would do to her?!"

"Right from the start. You thought Suzie's death was because of you cause it happened when you arrived. Then you brought her back to life, all the way, because you wanted it so much, okay?! We're both responsible!"

"No Jack, I brought her back because I wanted to prove to you I could do something!" It was out of my mouth before I even realized I was saying it. Maybe he was right, maybe I did feel a little responsible for Suzie, but that wasn't what I was thinking of when I had the glove. I was thinking I wanted to make him proud. Jack didn't seem to know what to say, so I just cut to the chase. "What are we going to do with her?"

"I don't know."

"What if she never dies? Did you think of that? Alive forever, you and her?"

"No way."

"Could happen."

"I wouldn't wish that on her. I'd sooner kill her right now."

"Could you really kill her?"

"Yeah?"

"Really?"

"Oh yeah." Owen's voice came over the intercom.

"Jack, can you come to the convenience room for a second? It's urgent." Jack walked out without a second glance in my direction.

"More coffee, is that all you do? Leave me alone."

"No, I brought cookie's too," I said with a smile. I picked up the plate, reviling the note that I'd placed under it that said 'Road Trip?' Suzie looked up at me. They were all in the conference room, they wouldn't even notice I was gone for at least fifteen minutes. I wasn't going to let Jack Suzie, and she deserved to be able to see her father.

"This is stupid," she told me as I wheeled her outside. "Did you even think this through. I'm guessing you can't drive"-

"You can."

"-You don't have a car,"

"Gwen does, she left her purse at her work station, everyone's up the conference room."

"Jack's going to catch us."

"Not before we're a few miles from here. I shut down all the computers, it will take Tosh at least a half hour to get them working again."

"So you're a computer genius too?" Suzie asked. "I'm impressed. I'm surprised you're trusting me this much."

"You deserve to see your dad and like you said, I can't drive. But that's all we're doing, there and back, deal?"

"You got it, kid," she said, copying my American accent. I threw her the keys. She seemed to be able to drive fine, though she couldn't walk.

"You seem to be doing better," I noted.

"It's all thanks to you," she said, smiling at me. "That night, the night I died, or so I thought, before I shot myself, I shot Jack right through the head. I killed him. Stone dead. And then he just stood up and lived, am I right, did that happen?" There wasn't any way around it, she'd seen it with her own eyes.

"Yeah, it happened."

"So he can survive a bullet through the head? How?"

"I don't know. He won't tell me. He just said something happened to him a while ago and now he can't die."

"And he makes judgement about whether _I'm _allowed to live?" It's all so very easy for Captain Jack, isn't it? Do you ever wonder who he is?"

"All the time."

"I'm actually starting to wonder who you are." She was keeping her eyes on the road the entire time she was talking to me. "You're a very strange little girl."

"Strange?" I asked.

"Special," she corrected herself. "There aren't many twelve year olds who can escape Captain Jack Harkness." I smiled to myself. I suddenly had an overwhelming urge to answer her question, to tell her who I was.

"What?" she asked, seeing the expression on my face.

"I think I want to know who Jack is more than anybody."

"Why is that?"

"Because I'm his daughter." She turned away from the road for the first time, a look of pure shock on her face.

"I'm the only one you told that, am I right?" she asked. That wasn't exactly the response I'd been expecting. "You haven't told Gwen or any of the others?" I shook my head.

"They wouldn't really understand."

"And I would?"

"I don't know." There was a moment of silence that I quickly ended by switching on the radio.

"Oh my god," Suzie said. "I haven't heard this song in such a long time."

"I don't know it."

"You wouldn't, it's ancient. My mum use to sing it to me when I was a kid." Her eyes filled with tears. "Before I died." She started crying and I felt like I needed to say something.

"I never knew my mom." I leaned back against the seat, suddenly feeling really sleepy.

"Tired?" Suzie asked.

"Just a little."

"Why don't you ask Jack about your mum?" I gave her a look.

"How do you think that conversation would go?"

"Hmm, maybe you're right." We lapsed into silence again.

"What happens when you die?" I asked.

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yes, tell me."

"Do you believe in heaven?"

"I don't know."

"Yes you do. All little girls believe in heaven," she joked. "What do you believe?"

"I don't know if I believe it or not, but I figure if I'm gonna die, there would be a big white light. And I don't really no anyone who's died that would be waiting for me there, but maybe my mom would be there. I've always sort of thought she was dead, otherwise she'd have come and found me." Suzie snickered.

"You're faith never left Primary School, not that you're too far out of it."

"So what's out there?"

"Nothing. Just nothing." I felt a pit in my stomach.

"But if there's nothing, what's the point of us all being here? What's the point of living?"

"This is. Driving through the dark. All this stupid tiny stuff. We're just animals howling in the night because it's better then silence. I use to think about Torchwood and all those aliens coming to Earth, what the hell for? But it's just instinct. They come here cause there's life, that's all. Moths around the flame."

"So when you die, there's just"-

"Darkness."

"And you're all alone, there's no one else?"

"I didn't say that."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want to give you nightmares, but why do you think I was so desperate to come back? There's something out there in the dark. And it's moving."

The man lying in the bed did not look good at all. He had a feeding tube in his mouth and besides the annoying beeping of the machines, he could have been dead. But then again, it wasn't my biggest problem right now. I felt like crap. My head was pounding and I was so dizzy I had to lean against the wall to keep from falling over. I felt something dripping down my back. I put my hand back to see what it was and I felt something warm and sticky on my head. When I looked at my hand, it was covered in blood.

"Suzie, I've got"-

"Sorry Allie. You're getting shot in the head." She took off the rap she had around her head. She didn't have the blood in her hair anymore. "I'm almost better. It will be completely gone soon." In a matter of seconds, I realized what was happening. All of Suzie's injuries had been pasted to me. She was getting better and I was getting worse. The glove must have done something. So where was Jack? Why hadn't he found us already? What was taking him so long to come and save me?!

"Dad?" Suzie stood over the dying man in the bed. "It's me, Dad. Wake up." The man's eyes fluttered. "Dad, it's Suzie." His eyes winded, he looked terrified. "Hello Dad." She yanked the tube out of his mouth.

"What are you doing?" I managed to get out through the pain in my head.

"That was worth coming back for. Sending him into the dark." The machines were beeping wildly and the man was gasping for air. "Just what the bastard deserved." The machine's flat lined Suzie had just killed her father.

"Do you remember when we first met?" she asked, knelling next to me. "When I saw those bruises on your arms? We're more alike then you think, you and I. And wouldn't you just love to kill the man that did that to you?"

"I'm nothing like you!" I gasped. She gave me a sympatric look.

"Don't cry." She whipped a tear of my cheek. "I really do you like you, Allie Hale. You're special, like I said. And you're wrong, you're just like me. I knew that from the moment I met you. I hoped you'd be the one to bring me back." She knew we'd bring her back from the dead? "What's taking your Dad so long? Maybe he's not coming to save you after all." It was as if she read my mind. I'd actually been thinking that since we were in the car. Maybe Jack didn't care, maybe they weren't even looking for me. "Better get a move on." Suzie put me in her wheelchair and pushed me out to the car. I could barely see anything now, the pain in my head wasn't as bad. It was like everything was getting dark around me. I was dimly aware that Suzie had started talking to someone other then me.

"Hello Jack."

"Suzie, don't let her die," I heard Jack's voice say. He was looking for me! "The glove is killing Allie and keeping you alive."

"I know."

"Then stop."

"But I get to live, why would I stop?"

"For Allie's sake."

"But she replaced me and now I'm doing the same to her, isn't that fair?"

"Suzie, we've got a tracker on that car, we're going to catch up, I promise." It almost felt like he was secretly talking to me.

"And what happens then?"

"If she's dead, then I'm going to kill you Suzie Costello. I promise. I'm going to kill you for the last and final time."

"But would you? When there's a part of her that's now in me? Could you really do that if I'm the only thing left of your daughter?"

"Why are you doing this? She's a twelve years old!"

"Because life is all, Jack. You should know. I'd do anything to stay. Anything."

"Suzie please, just stop."

"She's a real find this one, Allie Hale. You should have told her more about her mother. You should have told her a lot of things, you're not the best father Jack. You should have treated her better. She's better then me. She's so much better and she's a little girl! I was never any good. Jack, I"m sorry."

"_H ave you gone? Allie?. Safe journey." _

"_Let her go."_

"_I can't."_

"_Let Allie go!'_

"_I can't!" _

"_Owen, how is she? Owen, report!"_

"_I think we're too late."_

"_If I kill you, does she live?"_

"_But you can't Jack, cause look at me. I'm the only thing left of your little girl, can't you see it? Just the smallest bit of her?"_

"_Not one bit. Owen, anything?"_

"_Nothing."_

"_But I broke the connection! I killed you."_

"_I can't die. Never gonna die."_

"_How much more of this do you want?" _

"_It's all your fault Jack. You recruited me."_

"_The glove. Tosh, destroy the glove, it's keeping them connected!" _

"_Captain, my captain. Do you want to know a secret? There's something moving in the dark. And it's coming Jack Harkness. It's coming for you!" _

Air flooded my lungs, there was light again. I heard Owen's voice reassuring me that I was alright, that everything would be fine, but I wasn't really hearing him. I didn't want him.

"Jack!"

"I'm here. I'm right here." He draped his coat over my shoulders. "You're alright now." I snuggled into his chest.

"Suzie said you weren't coming." I heard police sirens blazing, coming towards us.

"Hey, look at me." He gave me a fierce look. "I will always, always come for you."


End file.
